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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


CB 
G87g.l 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00031717134 


This  book  must  not 
be  taken  from  the 
Library  building. 


Form  No.   471 


^, 


p.  ^.  §■ 


/x,  c>_c>-«'>^e-. . 


Rarobtes  of  a  Southerner 


THREE  Continents. 


"  I  must  also  see  Rome."— /^rw/. 

"...  An  altar  to  the  Lord  in  tlie  midst  of  tlie  land  of  Egypt,  and 
a  pillar  at  the  border  thereof  to  the  Lord.  And  it  shall  he  for  a  sign  and 
for  a  witness."— /s'rtzVjA  iq. 

"  In  the  way  going  up  to  Jerusalem,"— il/^r/l'  lo. 


-E^,    L.    CtK-OOIXIH:. 


SECOInTID    T'lTOTJS.-^a^lD- 


GREENSBORO : 

Thomas  Brothers,  Book  and  Job  Printers. 
1891. 


COPYRIGHTED. 

P.  L.  GROOME. 


0 
to 


To  Col.  Julian  S.  Carr, 

The  Frrnid  of  Urdversal  Man,  the  Beau  Ideal  PJuMhropist, 

and  to 

Washington  Duke,  Esq., 

WW  has  done  for  my  Alma  Mater  what  was  in  my  heart  but  beyond 

my  ability  to  do,  this  volume  is  inscribed. 

By  the  Author. 


U/e  J\)a\)\[  Tl?em  fWl, 


In  addition  t6  his  own  observations,  the  author  is  indebted  to 
many  writers  for  valuable  suggestions  in  preparing  this  volume; 
the  following  have  been  specially  serviceable :  The  Standard 
Histories ;  Geikie ;  Farrar's  Paul ;  Conybeare  and  Howson's 
Life  and  Epistles  of  Paul ;  Thompson's  Land  and  the  Book; 
Josephus ;  Dr. Young ;  Bishop  Marvin's  East  Via  West ;  Col.  Gor- 
man ;  Dr.  Buckley's  Writings  on  Foreign  Travel ;  Dr.  Olin  ;  Dr. 
Fisk ;  Bayard  Taylor's  Views  Afoot ;  Lee  Merriwether ;  Mark 
Twain ;  President  Winston's  Continental  Letters  ;  Dr.  De  Haas ; 
Dr.  Menzie's  Turkey,  Old  andNeiv;  Dr.  Hamlin;  Wood's  Ephesus; 
Hamilton's  Works  on  the  Turks  ;  George  Ebers'  Works  ;  Ency- 
clopedia Britannica,  and  all  the  guide  books  in  loco.  When 
more  than  suggestion  is  used  the  text  ie  borrowed  with  due 
credit. 

For  illustrations  we  gratefully  acknowledge  the  kindly  ser- 
vices of  The  (Epworth)  Alliance  Hemld,  Pittsburgh  Christian 
Advocate,  Col.  J.  B.  Gorman  and  Miss  Lehman. 

To  friendly  critics  and  a  generous  press  the  first  edition  owed 
its  rapid  sale. 

May  we  not  hope  that  enlargement  in  volume,  revision  of 
text,  and  illustration  will  secure  for  this  the  favorable  recep- 
tion accorded  to  the  first  edition? 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTKR.  PAGE. 

I.  From  North  Carolina  to  New  York 9 

II.  Crossing  THE  Sea 16 

III.  France 25 

IV.  Paris  to  Italy 31 

V.  Genoa— "Pearl  OF  THE  Sea," 36 

VI.  Pisa,  Florence 41 

VII.  Rome 52 

VIII.  Naples—"  Wanton  Beauty," 59 

IX.  Egypt 71 

X.  Farther  Up  THE  Nile 85 

XI.  Down  THE  Nile  TO  Cairo 96 

XII.  Odds  and  Ends 105 

XIII.  On  Suez  Canal 113 

XIV.  The  Oldest  Seaport 118 

XV.  From  JOPPA  to  Jerusalem 125 

XVI.  Mt.  Calvary 138 

XVII.  In  AND  About  Jerusalem 145 

XVIII.  Around,  Above,  Beneath  and  in  Jerusalem 

— Mt.  Moriah— Gethsemane 156 

XIX.  Traveling  in  Palestine 167 

XX.  North  of  Jerusalem 175 

XXI.  Mt.  Tabor,  Sea  of  Galilee,  Nazareth 184 

XXII.  Mt.  Carmel  and  the  Coasts  of  Tyre  and 
SiDON 190 


VI. 
CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

XXIII.  Beirut 197 

XXIV.  The  Land,  The  People,  The  Man 205 

XXV.  Among  the  Grecian  Isles 215 

XXVI.  Smyrna  and  Ephesus 221 

XXVII.  From  Asia  TO  Greece 237 

XXVIII.  Amongst  Savants 247 

XXIX.  Through  the  Hellespont  to  the  Sublime 
Porte 254 

XXX.  In  and  About  Stamboul 260 

XXXI.  Constantinople  and  the  Turks 267 

XXXII.  Through   Roumania,    Bulgaria,    Servia, 
Hungary  and  Austria 277 

XXXIII.  Vienna 283 

XXXIV.  Through  Germany  Down  the  Rhine 292 

XXXV.  Heidelberg,  Worms,  Down  the   Rhine 

TO  Cologne 299 

XXXVI.  Three  Weeks  in  London 306 

XXXVII.  Sights  in  London- 315 

XXXVIII.  Scotland— Abbotsford,    Edinburgh, 
Glasgow 327 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Frontispiece 

St.  Peter's  Cathedral 8 

Ship — La  Gascogne  19 

Leaning  Tower 45 

Loggia  Dei  Lanzi — Florence 51 

The  Colosseum 54 

Naples,  Bay,  Vesuvius 58 

Pompeii  as  Dug  Out 65 

Exhumed  Bodies 63 

Hon.  Elihu  B.  Taft 66 

Mill,  Bakery,  Wine  Jar  of  Pompeii 79 

Taking  a  Drink  of  Water 73 

Sakieh  for  Raising  Water 74 

Cairo  from  the  Citadel 'j'] 

Section  of  the  Great  Pyramid 82 

Pylon,  or  Gate  to  Egyptian  Temple 93 

Scene  on  the  Nile 98 

Water  Carrier 106 

Slave  Boat  on  the  Nile 112 

Joppa  or  Jaffa 119 

Women  "Grinding  at  the  Mill," 130 

Jews'  Wailing  Place 154 

Mount  of  Olives 1 64 

Jerusalem  from  the  South  Side  of  Olivet 171 

Sea  of  Galilee 204 

The  Acropolis  of  Athens  as  it  Was 243 

Constantinople 259 

City  Road  Chapel — Wesley's  Church,  Front  View 316 

Interior  of  City  Road  Chapel 317 

Wesley's  Tomb 319 

Interior  of  Westminster  Abbey — Choir 322 

St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London 324 

Sir  Walter  Scott's  Monument 330 


CHAPTER  I. 


FROM  NORIH  CAROLINA  TO  NEW  YORK. 


"  I  have  always  supposed  that  the  gospel  narratives  would 
be  more  interesting  and  better  understood,  and  that  the  instruc- 
tions of  our  divine  Teacher  w^ould  fall  with  more  power  upon 
the  heart  in  the  places  where  they  were  first  delivered,  than 
where  read  or  heard  on  the  other  side  of  the  world ;  and  to  a 
limited  extent  I  find  this  to  be  true."— TAe  Land  and  the  Book. 

At  five  or  six  years  of  age  I  read  ''  Peep  of  Day,"  in 
which  graphic  descriptions  of  scenes  in  the  Kfe  of  our 
Lord  awakened  a  desire  to  travel  over  the  Holy  Land: 
subsequent  reading  and  education  only  intensified 
this  desire.  And  I  have  often  prayed  for  the  privilege 
and  believed  it  would  be  afforded.  A  kind  providence 
anticipated  my  most  sanguine  expectations,  removing  all 
barriers  in  the  autumn  of  1888. 

So  by  January,  1889,  preparations  for  the  journey  done 
I  went  over  to  Trinity  College  to  see  Professors  Armstrong 
and  Price,  who  had  spent  some  years  abroad,  for  such 
kindly  suggestions  and  advice  as  they  might  make,  and 
much  to  my  delight  and  profit.  Dr.  Crowell  placed  a 
very  valuable  book  in  my  hands  that  served  me  in 
studying  the  conditions  of  things  in  Europe. 

At  Archdale  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  the  Rev. 
Rufus  King,  who  had  been  to  Palestine,  and  who  gave  me 
several  valuable  hints.  Bishop  Granberry  very  kindly 
gave  me  a  letter  commending  me  to  the  confidence  of 
such  Christian  communities  as  I  might  visit,  with  the  as- 


10 

8ur;ince  that  I  should  have  his  prayers  in  my  behalf,  all 
of  which  were  most  cordially  appreciated.  Dr.  Young 
wrote  me  a  few  days  ago,  to  go  first  to  Egypt  and  Pales- 
tine, as  the  "  mercury  would  soon  be  too  high  for  comfort 
there."  I  never  did  like  mercury  and  purposed  to  follow 
his  advice. 

Farewells  said  at  home,  with  a  valise  as  my  only  trav- 
eling companion,  I  turned  my  face  toward  the  North. 

By  way  of  Richmond  you  reach  Washington  at  11  a.m., 
leaving  Greensboro  at  8:40  p.  m.  Our  engine  killed  a 
very  fine  cow  just  before  reaching  Washington — we  stop- 
ped and  all  went  back,  excpt  the  ladies  and  children,  to 
see  her. 

In  Washington  I  called  first  at  the  State  Department 
for  my  passport,  after  which,  it  being  Wednesday,  and 
Mr.  Cleveland's  day  for  receiving  visitors,  I  called  at  the 
White  House  with  about  one  hundred  others  to  be  intro- 
duced to  the  President.  It  is  an  informal  affair :  the 
President  stands  in  a  doorway  leading  out  of  the  E!ast 
room,  and  visitors  come  up  to  him,  say  "  howdye  do,  ]Mr. 
President?"  and  pass  out.  It  is  simple  and  does  a  little 
good  perhaps  and  no  harm.  It  adds  a  proportion  to 
American  citizenship  denied  the  subjects  of  most  other 
countries. 

I  admire  the  public  buildings  of  Washington  enough 
to  write  a  whole  letter  about  them,  but  many  of  my 
readers  have  already  seen  them,  and  others  have  written 
them  up  in  better  style  than  I  may  hope  to  do.  In  all 
the  travel  before  me  I  do  not  expect  to  see  any  one 
building  more  magnificent  than  the  Capitol  of  the 
United  States,  nor  any  city  more  beautiful  than  Wash- 
ington, with  its  fine  buildings  and  parks.  Being  detain- 
ed in  the  White  House,  I  had  toVait  till  four  for  a  train, 


11 

but  the  loss  of  time  was  more  than  compensated 
by  the  acquaintance  of  a  Mr.  Miller,  of  New  York,  son 
of  a  Presbyterian  clergyman.  He  says  in  their  church 
they  have  the  Y.  P.  0.  E.  S.,  i.  e.  the  Young  People's 
Christian  Endeavor  Society,  and  that  it  works  admira- 
bly. It  is  the  same  thing  about  which  I  wrote  an  article 
in  November.  I  formed  one  of  the  same  at  Mt.  Tabor, 
on  Granville  circuit,  with  twenty-four  members.  It 
gives  each  something  to  do.  We  are  all  very  fast  learn- 
ing the  fact  that,  to  take  stock  in  any  thing  or  expend 
labor,  prayer  or  thought  to  further  a  cause,  identifies  us 
with  that  enterprise  as  we  cannot  otherwise  be.  * 

I  reached  Jersey  City  at  11:35  P.  M.,  Wednesday,  and 
New  Y'ork  next  morning  at  nine  o'clock.  I  have  now 
been  here  two  days,  stopping  at  the  International 
Hotel,  Park  Row,  opposite  the  post  office  first,  but  as 
our  Steamer  leaves  to-morrow  morning  at  six,  I  came 
down  to  the  Palace  Hotel,  one  square  from  the  pier. 

My  first  care  was  to  put  a  portion  of  my  cash  into  the 
hands  of  Messrs.  Brown  Bros.,  whose  letters  of  credit 
are  honored  all  over  the  world  where  there  is  a  Bank. 
But  they  required  that  I  be  identified ;  and  Dr.  Deems 
was  the  only  man  who  knew  me  in  the  city.  I  purposed 
calling  on  him  for  letters  of  introduction,  advice,  etc., 
and  called  at  his  house,  but  he  was  not  at  home.  I 
could  not  find  him.  But  sometimes  when  things  can't 
be  done  one  way  they  can  another,  so  I  succeeded  by  the 
other. 

The  Cunard  and  Inman  lines  send  vessels  to-morrow 
to  Liverj^ool,  also  the  Red  Star  Line  to  Antwerp.     But 


*It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  since  writing  tlie  above,  the  General  Con- 
ference of  our  Church  has  provided  for  the  same  thing,  calling  it  the  Ep- 
worth  League,    But  I  was  the  first  to  organize  one  in  Southern  Methodism. 


12 

I  chose  the  Gascogne  of  the  French  Line  to  Havre. 
This  is  the  largest  and  finest  boat  in  the  harbor,  capacity 
seven  thousand  tons.  I  chose  this  also  because  I  might 
pick  up  a  little  French  on  the  way. 

I  presume  I  need  not  dwell  on  this  city  much.  Every- 
thing is  done  on  a  magnificent  scale.  Many  of  the 
buildings  on  Broadway  are  from  six  to  ten  stories  high, 
with  high  pitched  rooms.  A.  T.  Stewart's  old  property 
occupies  a  whole  square,  and  is  built  of  stone  as  are  hun- 
dreds of  others.  The  Brooklyn  Bridge  is  the  largest 
suspension  bridge  in  the  world.  The  main  span  is  1.593 
feet  6  inches  long,  the  entire  length  is  5,989  feet.  It  is 
eighty  feet  wide,  and  ninety  feet  high,  and  would  hold 
altogether  fifty  thousand  people.  They  have  several 
lines  of  elevated  steam  railways,  capable  of  carrying  200 
passengers  each  at  a  trip;  they  go  about  every  sixty  or 
seventy  seconds  during  the  morning,  and  the  cars 
are  full  in  the  morning  and  late  in  the  afternoon. 
They  stop  every  few  blocks  to  let  passengers  on  and 
off". 

CoojDer  Institute  is  a  magnificent  brown  stone  build- 
ing, opposite  the  Bible  House,  Eighth  vStreet  and 
Bowery.  Here  is  a  free  reading-room,  one  hundred  feet 
wide  and  two  hundred  long — I  am  guessing — with  a 
dozen  copies  each  of  scores  of  papers,  and  thousands  of 
volumes  of  books ;  tables  with  chairs,  and  desks  for 
standing  are  plentifully  provided  for  the  thousands  who- 
come  here  yearly  to  read  and  obtain  the  knowledge  they 
are  too  poor  to  buy  elsewhere.  About  one  hundred  and 
fifty  were  in  when  I  called.  Free  lectures  are  given 
also.  Paintings  and  statuar}^  are  on  free  exhibition.  I 
felt  a  thrill  of  admiration  for  the  beneficent  founder 
when  I   departed.     I  saw  the  statue  of  the   Father  of 


18 

"his  country,  in  Wall  Street  at  the  treasury  building, 
where  he  took  the  oath  of  office  as  the  first  President  of 
the  United  Stutes.  I  visited  the  Stock  Exchange,  where 
men  are  made  pau|)ers  and  millionaires  by  telegraph. 
And  although  I  have  attended  many  scores  of  revivals 
of  religion,  I  have  never  witnessed  such  antics  as  I  saw 
cut  there.  Men  yell  and  scream  much,  I  imagine,  as 
Indians  celebr;ite  a  victory  won,  or  Cannibals  the  dance 
of  death  ;  but  others  have  written  up  New  York. 

I  noticed  a  very  few  colored  people  in  New  York,  not 
over  a  dozen  or  twenty  perhaps.  Too  cold  or  too  some- 
thing for  Sambo  up  liere. 

Another  thing:  I  have  seen  less  smoking  on  Broad- 
way than  one  would  in  a  town  of  a  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, jierliaps,  in  North  Carolina.  I  have  seen  less  than 
a  dozen  boys  with  cigarettes — this  I  thought  remarkable 
and  very  creditable.  The  habit  may  be  smoking  at 
home,  I  don't  know,  only  1  have  not  seen  it  to  any  ex- 
tent, hardly,  in  public. 

I  must  relate  what  will  seem  to  be  a  narrow  escape. 
It  may  be  serviceable  to  some  young  reader  ex- 
pecting to  visit  the  Metropolis.  The  morning  I  ar- 
rived a  familiar  looking  chap  accosted  me  w^th,  "Hello, 
Oroome,  yon  herel"  "Yes,"  I  replied.  He  endeavored  to 
draw  me  into  conversation,  but  being  in  a  hurry  I  es- 
caped him,  but  to  be  encountered  a  few  moments  later 
by  a  more  successful  accomplice.  The  first  had  learned 
of  my  home,  name,  etc.,  and  reported  to  the  second  man 
-who  said :  "I  am  from  Greensboro,  and  felt  as  if  I  must 

speak  to  you ;  my  name  is ,"  giving  the  name  of 

one  of  the^first  families  in  North  Carolina,  "and  we  are 
_going  to  put  up  a  cotton  factory  in  Greensboro;  lam 
here  to  buy  the  machinery  for  it.     Let  me  give  you  my 


14 

card  and  show  you  our  fancy  label."  He  being  so  well 
related,  and  from  Greensboro,  and  putting  up  a  factory, 
I  supposed  it  was  the  knitting  factory  that  was  going  up 
about  that  time,  I  hated  to  appear  so  disinterested  as  to 
refuse  his  card  and  pictures.  "They  are  just  here,"  he 
said,  leading  me  across  Broadway  and  on  a  square,  chat- 
ting very  pleasantly.  I  began  to  feel,  this  man  is  pre- 
suming very  much  to  thus  waste  my  time,  and  the 
thought  occurred  to  me,  he  is  a  "sharper,"  but  I  followed 
him  two  squares,  and  he  stopped  at  a  very  nice  looking 
second  class  office:  "Walk  in,  Mr.  Groome."  I  paused 
at  the  door,  he  passed  in  and  said  to  a  gentleman  writing 
at  a  table  and  in  front  of  a  screen  :  "Is  the  printing 
done  ?"  "Xo,"  replied  the  scribe,  "sit  down  and  I'll  send 
over  for  it."  "Come  in,  Mr.  Groome,  it  will  be  done  in 
a  moment,  and  we  will  go."  "No,  thanks,  I'll  stand 
here,"  I  said.  He  then  came  out  and  insisted  •  that  I 
come  in,  wished  to  know  if  I  were  in  a  hurry,  etc.,  etc. 
I  looked  across  the  street,  and  a  gentleman  shook  his 
head  violently  and  gesticulated  his  warnings.  I  had 
already  started  away.  After  listening  to  the  proposition 
of  another  confidence  man  to  visit  a  clothing  store,  I 
looked  straight  at  him  and  said :  One  of  your  men  tried 
that  game  on  me  yesterday !  "I  don't  understand  you — 
what  do  you  mean,  Mr.  Groome  ?"  Oh,  nothing,  I  replied, 
except  it  seems  when  a  man  comes  to  the  city  looking 
rustic,  he  finds  himself  surrounded  by  a  set  of  new 
friends,  who — "Good  day,  Mr.  Groome,"  he  said  excited- 
ly, and  was  gone. 

These  fellows  go  in  j)airs ;  one  learns  the  name  and 
place  of  residence,  reports  to  the  other  and  thus  catch 
up  unwary  visitors.     They  are  called  "Confidence  men.'^ 


15 

Once  inside'^of  their  dens,  the  door  closed,  and  you  may 
be  robbed'^if^not  murdered.* 

At  six  o'clock.Saturday  morning  we  went  aboard. 

"The  sails  are  spread,  and  fair  the  light  wind  blows, 
As  glad  to  waft  him  from  his  native  home." 

•Since    reaching  home,  two  North  Carolinians  have  told  me  of  being 
swindled  in  the  dens  of  "Confidence  men"  in  New  York. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CROSSING   THE  SEA. 

Before  the  gangAvay  was  pulled  ashore  and  the  ship  cut 
from  her  mooring  I  penned  a  few  lines,  in  the  early 
morning  light,  to  loved  ones  at  home,  and  felt  a  sensation 
of  fear  and  peril,  new  to  me  and  strange,  possibly  com- 
mon to  those  about  to  cross  the  ocean  for  the  first  time. 
What  hes  before  me  on  this  waste  of  water?  And  if  I 
return  not  what  of  the  little  group  that  I  left  weeping 
a  while  ago  ?  What  right  had  I  to  le:ive  any  way  ?  Had 
not  one  Jonas  tried  the  same  with  disastrous  results? 
And  was  he  not  an  example  to  men  of  like  habits?  Are 
there  any  other  preachers  aboard  who,  like  myself,  are 
going  forth  to  widen  and  deepen  their  knowledge  of  men 
and  things  that  they  may  bring  to  the  church's  service 
better  equipment  of  both  body  and  mind,  who  may  be  a 
sort  of  guarantee  to  me,  that  God's  good  providence  will 
guide  us  safely  over?  No,  not  one  can  be  found  on  the 
roll,  save  a  Hebrew  Ilabbi. 

About  six  o'clock,  c-n  Saturdiv  morning,  a  small  steam 
ferry  boat  that  had  b  -en  fastened  to  ours,  began  to  move 
her  out  towards  the  channel  of  the  river  and  turn  her 
prow  towards  the  ocean.  So  small  was  the  motion  that 
only  by  sighting  distant  objects  in  a  line  with  the  oppo- 
site end  of  ths  vessel  could  one  see  her  move,  but  when 
she  at  last  got  into  position,  and  turned  her  mighty  en- 
gines loose,   her  screw  churned  the  sea  behind  into  a 


foaming  whirlpool.  We  dropped  our  pilot  about  the 
same  tiuie  as  one  of  the  Cunarders.  Our  engineers  de- 
termined to  run  out  of  sight  before  night,  and  did  but 
damaged  an  eugine,  causing  se\^eral  hours  delay;  during 
the  night  the  tortoise  passed  the  hare,  but  we  afterwards 
passed  them  to  see  them  no  more. 

This  is  the  sixth  day  we  liave  been  out,  the  first  was 
bright,  only  one  passenger  sick,  but  the  second  was  windy 
and  the  usual  tributes  were  paid  to  Neptune.  Sunday 
night  blew  a  gale.  Monday  was  stormy  all  day,  nearly 
everybody  was  sick.  We  had  a  musical  crew,  but  no 
singing. 

Lying  in  our  state  room  the  water  rising  above  the 
ports  looked  green  at  first,  but  when  a  great  wave  struck 
her  we  would  be  in  the  dark.  When  at  last  I  essayed  to 
go  above,  the  sublimest  scene  I  ever  witnessed  met  my 
view.  The  legions  of  the  storm  swept  the  crest  from  the 
waves  until  a  fancy  net^Avork  seemed  to  be  spread  out 
over  the  sea.  Our  ship  rolled  heavily  from  one  side  to 
the  other  and  all  movable  commodities  changed  sides 
accordingly.  The  storm  beat  from  the  starboard  quarter, 
the  waves  sometimes  running  overthe  rail  ''leaped  on  the 
■deck  like  charging  giants."  Siie  proudly  lifted  her  head, 
careened  to  the  larboard,  shook  them  oh"  and  rushed 
through  the  tempest,  but  to  be  again  attacked  by  the  fu- 
rious storm  king  and  but  to  conquer  him.  When  her 
screw  was  lifted  by  her  plunging  a  jarring  tremor  ran 
through  the  ship,  but  like  a  thing  of  life  with  a  goal  m 
view  she  went  groaning,  creaking,  yet  careering  on. 
One  can  recall  but  not  relate  how  the  wind  shrieked 
through  her  masts,  spars  and  cordage.  It  may  be  weak- 
ness, but  to  see^the  sea  rising  above  your  ship  like  moun- 
tainsand  sweeping  down  as  if  anxious  to  engulf  her,  to 


18 

see  her  rise  momentarily  as  if  by  magic  to  escape  certain 
death,  far  above,  to  be  plunged  again  into  the  deep,  the 
sea  ever  and  anon  breaking  over,  sweeping  all  mov- 
able things  from  the  deck  alarms  one  for  the  time. 
You  know  that  death  would  not  have  to  go  far  from  his 
course  to  take  you.  I  was  a  little  more  fervent,  if  no 
more  sincere  in  my  devotions.  I  renewed  my  pledges 
of  service,  to  greater  length  than  at  the  usual  hour  of 
prayer.  Thursday  morning  the  storm  was  gone  and  we 
have  since  had  tine  weatiier. 

Our  ship,  La  Gascogne,  is  a  gallant  barque,  four  masts, 
and  iron  irom  mast  to  keel.  Her  entire  length  is  546 
feet  by  36  feet  wide,  capable  of  carrying  1,500  passengers 
though  there  are  less  than  three  hundred  on  board.  She 
was  built  in  1886.  She  is  a  fast  boat,  has  crossed  from 
New  York  to  Havre  in  seven  days.  We  expect  to  be 
out  eight  days  this.time.  Her  draught  is  26  feet.  When 
at  full  speed,  on  a  smooth  sea  she  generates  a  wave  on 
either  side  about  six  feet  high,  the  two  aggregating  in 
bulk  about  what  she  displaces.  These  waves  stand  at  an 
angle  of  about  40  degrees,  and  between  them  and  the 
ship  is  jDerfectly  smooth.  She  is  driven  by  three  massive 
engines,  aggregating  eight  thousand  (8,000)  horse  power; 
she  burns  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons  of  coal  per  day, 
in  thirtv-six  furnaces. 


20 

Fare  on  La  Gascogne  is  high  because  the  distance  is 
greater  than  to  Glasgow  or  Liverpool,  her  ship's  crew  is 
larger,  and  the  line,  ^'•Coniirig  aie  Geaeralc  Tranmtlan- 
tique,^^  to  which  she  belongs,  has  a  monopoly  of  the 
travel  from  Xew  York  to  Havre.  She  carried  on  this 
trip  three  hundred  pouches  of  United  States  mail. 

The  seabirds  attended  us  all  the  way  across.  Some- 
times they  light  on  the  wa.ter  for  a  short  while  and  rise 
to  pursue  us  again.  What  power  of  endurance  must  be 
locked  u})  in  tlie  tiny  muscles  ol  their  tireless  wings.  I 
have 

'•'Marked  the  seabird  wildly  wbeeHng  through  the  skies," 

and  considered  that, 

''God  attends  him,  God  defends  him  when  he  cries," 

and  felt  secure. 

You  never  get  tired  looking  at  the  sea,  it  is  so  sugges- 
tive, as  well  as  so  wonderful.  The  universal  receptacle 
of  the  washings  of  all  continents,  with  their  city  sewer- 
ages, and  yet  one  of  the  great  health  giving  powers  of 
the  world  ;  all  the  rivers  run  into  it,  yet  it  is  not  full. 
Its  floor  may  be  covered  with  the  corpses  of  those  who 
have  essayed  to  traverse  its  plains,  yet  it  seems  at  times 
harmless  and  inoffensive.  You  may  become  familiar 
with  a  thousand  of  its  secrets,  yet  ten  thousand  are 
concealed,  "emblem  of  the  infinite  God,  vast,  unsearch- 
able, unknowable."     Verilv,  thev  that  go  down  to   the 

....  -  '        -^  » 

sea  in  ships,  in  time  of  storm,  "See  his  wonders  in   the 

mighty  deep," 

"When  the  Almighty's  wrath  is  glassed  in  storms," 
the  highway  of  all  nations,  it  in  turn  requires  tribute  of 


21 

them  all,  type  of  the  Maker's  power,  type  of  his  love,  as- 
it  enibnices  every  land,  small  and  great,  disbursing  its 
beneficence  to  all,  inspirer  of  ambition,  eloquence  and 
song,  paralyzing  with  fear  and  dread,  when  Neptune 
drives  abroad  to  wreak  vengeance  on  his  foes,  or  sooth- 
ing to  happy  dreams,  when 

"Rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deej)," 

or  one  lounges  in  the  shade,  some  quiet  summer  eveniug,- 
near  the  beach, 

"Down  by  the  deep  green  sea." 

What  stories  could  it  relate  of  piratical  deeds,  of  lost 
and  starving  crews,  of  bloody  encounter,  prosecuted  by 
ambitious  thirst  for  power,  covetous  thirst  for  gold  and 
unholy  revenge,  and  not  a  few  of  sighing  lovers. 

"  Roll  on  thou  deep  and  dark  and  wondrous  ocean,  roll." 

I  have  formed  some  pleasant  acquaintances ;  an  art 
student  who  has  studied  in  Naples,  Rome  and  Germany, 
and  spent  a  year  in  New  York,  is  on  his  Avay  to  the  Ju- 
lieu  School  in  Paris ;  two  Greeks  returning  to  Sparta,  a 
wealthy  Italian,  who  promises  to  serve  me  in  Turin,  and 
a  Jewish  Eabbi  from  Jerusalem.  All  these  have  spent 
some  time  in  America  and  acquainted  me  with  many 
facts  relative  to  the  objects  of  my  tour.  I  have  also  had 
the  good  fortune  to  be  invited,  while  in  Genoa,  to  the 
house  of  an  Italian  importing  merchant,  who  lives  in  the 
same  street  Columbus  did.  There  are  many  garrulous 
Frenchmen  aboard,  but  as  yet  I  have  not  become  ac- 
quainted with  any  of  them. 

Yesterday  and  to-day  we  saw  in  the  North  two  beau ti- 


22 

f nl  rainbows,  their  reflection  on  the  surface  of  the  water 
reached  almost  to  the  ship.  Our  artist  went  into  rap- 
tures over  them.  He  is  sketching  almost  ever^^thing, 
has  got  me  down  in  black  and  white. 

And  I  will  tell  our  young  readers  how  illustrative 
sketches  are  made :  first,  outlines  are  made  with  an  or- 
dinary graphite  pencil,  these  are  filled  with  a  pen  and 
ink,  this  is  photographed  on  a  plate  of  gelatine,  making 
a  fac  simile  of  the  illustration,  this  plate  is  after  this 
submitted  to  acid  treatment,  when  all  is  eaten  otf  except 
the  photographed  impression,  which  now  projects  above 
the  other  surface;  from  this  is  made  the  stereotype  plate, 
from  which  any  number  of  pictures  may  be  taken. 

About  1  o'clock  P.  M.,  Sunday,  the  8th  day  from  Xew 
York,  La  Goscogne  dropped  anchor  a  mile  from  the  wharf 
at  Havre.  But  we  did  not  go  ashore  till  4  P.  M.,  when 
we  were  told  that  the  train  then  in  waiting  was  the  only 
one  that  would  carry  us  on  our  tickets  to  Paris.  The  al- 
ternative was  presented  of  losing  the  fare  or  traveling  on 
Sunday ;  we  reluctantly  and  perhaps  unfortunately  chose 
the  latter. 


CHAPTER  III. 


FRANCE. 


No  one  expects  to  go  to  Europe  without  visiting  Paris. 
She  has  learned  to  project  herself  into  the  thought  of 
every  civilized  people.  As  Apollo  was  consulted  at 
Delphi,  the  goddess  of  Fashion  sits  on  the  tripod  and 
dictates  here.  God  Mars  likewise  has  long  held  his  court 
here,  in  the  cite  in  the  Seine,  and  here  only  is  learned  the 
par  excellent  code  de  Gidsine,  (way  to  cook). 

The  transformations  of  her  civil  and  social  life  exhib- 
it all  the  variety  of  the  kaleidoscope,  now  grave,  now  gay, 
humorous,  stocial,  ancient,  modern,  full"  of  churches  yet 
irreligious,  surpassing  all  others  in  contributing  to  life's 
reliefs  and  indulgences,  yet  the  most  reckless  in  sacri- 
ficing life,  to-day  it  is  vive  la  vol,  to-morrow  it  is  the 
guillotine.      Strange,   beautiful,  mysterious  metropolis, 
we  will  enter  thy  gates,  Avalk  thy  streets  and  boulevards, 
visit  thy  cathedrals,  cimetieres  and  gardens,  thy  palaces, 
towers  and  temples  and  briefly  study  thy  pleasure-loving 
people.     It  was  9  o'clock  P.  M.,  when  we  reached  Paris. 
It  was  Sunday  and  election   day.     Gen.  Boulanger   had 
just  defeated  Jacques,  Eadical.     The   citizens  thronged 
every  square  of  the  magnificently   illuminated  capitol, 
and  wild  shouts  rent  the  air  at  every  item  favorable  first 
to   one   contestant  and  then  the   other.     Fatigued,  we 
sought  our  couch,  but  the  enthusiasm  without  was  un- 
abated for  hours.     On  going  abroad  next  day  we  found 
that  Paris  was  painted  red,  yellow  and  green  with  large 


24 

posters  representing-  the  various  claims  of  the  rival  can- 
didates to  represent  the  district  of  Seine  in  the  House  of 
the  Deputies ;  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  circulars 
varying  in  size  from  four  feet  square  and  under  were 
posted  in  the  city,  and  from  what  little  French  I  am  able 
to  read,  I  think  the  same  methods  are  resorted  to  here  to 
defeat  one's  opponents  as  at  home.  The  friends  of  one 
candidate  would  cover  the  posters  of  his  opponent  with 
their  own ;  these  would  be  covered  again  until  they 
would  be  forty  deep,  one  for  Jacques,  one  for  Boulanger 
throughout.  They  were  pasted  on  everything  that  would 
hold  them  by  the  thoroughfares,  but  all  were  cleaned  off 
nicely  on  Monday.  I  made  effort  to  visit  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Deputies  also,  but  failed,  as  considerable  red 
tape  is  required,  which  I  discarded,  rather  than  lose  the 
time. 

I  visited  the  Place  de  la  Bastile,  which  is  occupied  by 
a  monument  commemorating  the  bravery  of  "French 
Soldiers  in  1827,  1828  and  1829." 

The  base  and  pedestal  are  marble,  the  column  proper 
is  bronze,  on  top  is  a  bronze  figure  representing  the  Ge- 
nius of  Liberty  holding  in  one  hand  a  torch,  in  the  other 
a  broken  chain,  the  ascent  is  by  a  spiral  stairway  of  two 
hundred  and  twelve  steps,  and  from  the  top  one  has  a 
fine  view  of  the  city.  There  is  an  interesting  history 
connected  with  this  column.  It  is  on  the  site  of  the 
prison  by  the  same  name,  w^hich  was  built  over  five  hun- 
dred years  ago  by  Kings  Charles  \.  and  VL,  not  used  at 
first  for  a  prison,  but  afterwards  was  used  to  confine  per- 
sons of  rank.  It  was  destroyed  at  the  beginning  of  the 
French  revolution,  July,  1789.  The  present  column  was 
well  nigh  destroyed  by  the  commune  in  1871. 

Hotel  de  Ville  is  one  of  the  finest  buildings  in  the  city. 


25 

It  contains  the  town  hall  and  offices  of  the  municipal 
authorities,  but  is  not  yet  completed  on  the  interior ;  the 
facade  is  very  imposing ;  in  niches  of  the  second,  third 
and  fourth  stories  are  statues  of  the  Celebrities  of  Pa- 
risan  history.  Here  also  was  a  rallying  point  for  the 
revolutionists  in  1789 ;  to  this  place  Louis  XVI.  came 
from  Versailles  in  procession,  testifying  his  submission 
to  the  will  of  the  National  i^ssembly.  Here  the  two  Hu- 
guenot Chiefs  died  by  order  of  Catherine  de  Medici, 
after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  Here  Foulon, 
treasurer,  and  his  son-in-law  were  hung  to  lamp-posts 
during  the  Eevolution,  and  here  perished  many  another 
victim. 

The  Palais  Royal  is  near  by,  built  by  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu, in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It 
also  is  connected  with  many  a  tale  of  royal  dissipation, 
faithlessness  and  misery.  It  has  been  owned  in  turn  by 
French  and  German  kings  and  people.  It  was  also  well 
nigh  burned  down  by  the  commune  in  1871,  but  has 
been  since  rebuilt.  Here  one  sees  the  finest  display  of 
jewelry  in  Paris;  in  one  window  are  hundreds  of 
bracelets,  selling  at  fancy  prices;  watches,  chains, 
charms,  ear-rings,  pins,  etc.,  etc.,  with  diamonds  worth 
thousands  of  dollars.  They  are  arranged  in  rows,  in 
rings,  in  stars,  in  pyramids  and  all  manner  of  fantastic 
forms,  all  pleasing  to  the  eye.  Occasionally  one  sees  the 
sign,  "English  Spoken,"  but  I  find  it  often  not  so ;  if 
"one  speaks  English"  you  are  the  one,  yet  any  of  them 
can  make  a  trade ;  in  fact  every  article  has  marked  on  it 
the  price  in  francs.  There  are  more  restaurants  here 
than  any  other  kind  of  shops,  and  living  is  cheap  or 
dear,  according  to  what  you  wish.  One  can  dine  any- 
where for  five  cents  or  five  dollars,  as  one  pleases.  One 
3 


26 

notable  thing  about  bread  is  that  it  is  all  baked  alike,  in 
long,  light  rolls,  one  to  five  feet  long.  I  have  seen  scores 
of  persons  carrying  bread  in  their  arms,  exactly  as  a  boy 
carries  a  turn  of  wood.  Occasionally  t  is  carried  in 
baskets,  mostly  in  hand,  arm  or  apron.  Lee  Merriwe- 
ther  remarked  that  they  sell  bread  here  "by  the  yard  ;" 
another  author  says  by  the  "ell  (as  in  Cambridgeshire 
they  sell  butter  by  the  yard)." 

Paris  contains  a  reading  people,  judging  both  from  the 
number  of  book-stores  and  news-stands,  and  the  number 
of  papers  published  daily  at  one  cent  each.  As  far  as  I 
could  judge,  I  think  much  wine  is  drunk,  but  very  little 
whiskey  or  cognac. 

I  visited  the  churches  of  JSTotre  Dame,  St.  Sulpice 
and  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  St.  Sulpice,  a  very  large 
structure,  four  hundred  and  sixty-two  by  one  hundred 
and  eighty-three  feet,  by  one  hundred  and  eight  feet 
high,  supported  interiorly  by  thirty-two  stupendous 
columns  rising  to  the  height  of  seventy  or  eighty  feet, 
they  support  an  arched  ceiling  of  marble  or  stone. 
This  church  contains  eighteen  chapels,  beside  a  nave 
where  the  faithful  were  worshiping  during  my  visit; 
this  is  the  second  oldest  church  in  Paris,  I^otre  Dame 
being  the  oldest. 

This  church  is  on  the  site  of  a  church  of  the  fourth 
century;  it  was  consecrated  in  1182,  but  the  nave  was 
not  completed  until  the  thirteenth  century.  The  finest 
part  of  the  Cathedral  is  the  facade  facing  the  West ;  the 
three  portals  are  adorned  with  the  finest  gothic  work- 
manship. There  is  one  window  in  this  church  said  to 
he  fifty-four  feet  high.  Notre  Dame  is  five  hundred 
and  seventeen  feet  long,  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  feet 
wide,  and  the  vaulting  in  the  nave  is  one  hundred  and 


\ 


27 

ten  feet  high.  It  has  passed  through  the  revolution  and 
witnessed  much  bloodshed;  within  its  portals  reason 
has  been  deified  and  the  true  light  seemingly  extinguish- 
ed. To  the  credit  of  Napoleon  it  was  opened,  by  his 
order,  for  Divine  worship  again. 

I  spent  a  day  in  the  Louvre,  situated  in  a  place  once 
infested  by  wolves,  when  this  Avas  a  forest ;  hence  its 
name.  It  covers  several  acres  of  land ;  it  contains  the 
largest  collections  of  paintings  in  the  world,  besides  a 
large  collection  of  relics  from  Babylon,  Ninevah  and 
Egypt;  immense  Sarcophagi,  Statuary  Mummies, 
etc.  Here  is  a  dinner  table  in  mosaic,  displaying 
ducks  and  fatted  fowl  in  gorgeous  colors,  yet  the  pieces 
of  stone  of  which  they  are  made  are  often  no  larger 
than  a  pin-head,  many  thousands  of  pieces  are  required 
for  one  bird,  yet  the  picture  is  complete  in  every  detail, 
and  the  surface  of  the  table  is  as  smooth  as  a  pane  of 
glass.  The  cost  must  have  been  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars. Among  the  Statuary  I  believe  the  Venus  de  Milo 
is  thought  to  be  the  best,  though  now  time-worn  and 
abused  by  handling. 

I  spent  much  time  in  the  Salle  of  the  Italian  School ; 
a  novice  can  discern  the  superiority  of  these  in  outline 
and  faultless  blending  of  colors.  One  becomes  intoxi- 
cated with  admiration,  and  dazed  before  the  splendid 
panoramas. 

Passing  still  down  the  beautiful  quay  you  enter  the 
Jardin  des  Tuilleries,  once  reserved  for  Royalty  alone, 
it  is  now  a  public  esplanade,  enjoyed  by  happy  lovers, 
gay  soldiers,  nurses  and  hundreds  of  romping  children 
rolling  hoops,  spinning  tops,  etc.  Next  is  the  Place  die 
Carousal,  where  Louis  XIV.  gave  an  equestrian  ball, 
1662,  and  where  fetes  have  been  held  ever  since.     The 


28 

Arc  de  Triomph  now  stands  there,  and  is  small  in  com- 
parison with  its  surroundings.  Next  is  the  Court  of  the 
Tuilleries  which,  with  the  Jardin,  and  Ebjsees  Champs 
transcends  the  most  lofty  ideas  I  had  conceived  of  their 
beauty,  on  farther  at  Place  de  Concorde,  where  thousands 
of  gay  and  idle  denizens  assemble  every  afternoon,  is 
the  Obelisk  brought  from  Egypt,  with  its  silent  elo- 
quence. I  turned  aside  to  see  the  Panorama — siege  of 
Paris  in  1870-1,  but  was  disappointed  ;  it  was  inferior 
as  a  work  of  art  to  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run,  as  seen  in 
Washington  by  the  same  artist,  Poilpot.  Up  the  same 
Boulevard,  one  and  one-half  miles  farther,  though  it 
does  not  seem  half  a  mile,  is  Arc  d'  Etoile,  begun  by 
Napoleon  I.,  after  his  Austrian  campaign,  and  finished 
twenty  or  thirty  years  later ;  he  is  the  only  cognizable 
figure  on  the  facade.  He  is  being  crowned  as  a  con- 
queror. 

I  visited  the  Hospital  des  Invalides  and  saw  many  of 
the  wounded  soldiers  of  their  last  war.  Near  by  is  the 
Tomb  of  Napoleon  I.  which  I  did  not  enter,  it  being 
closed,  but  which  I  presume  is  the  most  colossal  tomb 
that  has  been  built  in  a  thousand  years.  The  dome  and 
cross  on  top  are  bronze  ;  around  the  silent  chieftain  hang 
the  tattered  colors  riven  on  many  a  gory  field.  A  spell 
hangs  over  the  place  and  falls  on  the  intruder  into  such 
a  presence. 

I  visited  the  cemetery  Pere  La  Chaise,  and  saw  the  tomb 
of  Abelard  and  Heloise,  whose  pathetic  history  has  been 
read  around  the  world.  Their  effigies  lie  in  state  upon 
two  sarcophagi  under  a  small  canopy,  and  if  in  life  di- 
vided, they  are  in  death  united.  Here  he  many  others 
once  famous  in  letters,  eloquence  and  diplomacy. 

The  Palace   of  the   Luxomburg,   built   by  Mary  de 


29 

Medici  is  a  magnificent  structure  combining  Tuscan, 
Doric  and  Ionic  orders  of  architecture.  It  has  been  oc- 
cupied by  kings,  consuls  and  socialists.  It  is  now  a 
museum  of  art. 

I  was  greatly  interested  in  Jardin  des  Plantes,  founded 
by  Louis  XIII.,  where  I  spent  a  morning.  Time  would 
fail  to  tell  of  the  reptiles,  fossils,  birds,  beasts,  savage 
and  tame,  carniverous,  herbivorous  and  omnivorous. 
Here  were  bears,  lions,  tigers,  cats,  hyenas,  wolves,  etc., 
etc.,  from  Africa,  Asia  and  America;  storks  and  cranes 
tall  as  a  man,  pelicans,  with  sacks  large  enough  to  hold 
a  gallon  under  tljeir  bills,  ostriches,  hawks,  and  the  giant 
condor  from  South  America  ;  one  white  bird  had  a  green 
tuft  on  the  back  of  its  head  from  my  stand  point,  like  a 
bunch  of  grass.  Here  are  seals,  antelopes,  bison,  rein- 
deer, kangaroo,  deer,  zebras,  etc.,  ad  irtfinitu  n. 

The  Jardin  des  Vivants  Plat  tes  was  closed,  but  one 
could  see  the  vast  collections  through  the  glass  sides, 
and  by  it  a  cedar  of  Lebanon  about  three  feet  in  diameter. 

I  went  to  the  markets  and  priced  a  good  many  things 
to  ascertain  the  comparative  cost  of  a  table  support  with 
what  it  is  in  North  Carolina.  The  difference  is  small. 
The  meats  are  of  a  fine  quality.  They  have  jack  rabbits 
three  times  as  large  as  any  in  North  Carolina,  and  they 
are  plentiful. 

One  is  pleased  with  the  fine  Norman  draught  horses 
used.  One  horse  carries  over  a  ton  of  coal,  often  two 
tons  on  a  cart,  about  the  streets ;  two  horses  haul  ten  to 
twelve  tierces  of  molasses  often.  On  one  omnibus  forty 
to  fifty  persons  will  go,  drawn  by  two  horses  till  a  grade 
is  reached,  when  a  third  is  hitched  in. 

I  visited  one  branch  of  the  McAll  Mission  and  con- 
versed  with   a   missionary   about  another,   Le  Bruiin. 


30 

They  are  prosecuting  a  vigorous  work,  have  services 
every  day  at  the  dispensary;  free  lectures  are  delivered 
every  day  to  the  invalid  poor,  who  receive  free  treat- 
ment. Many  young  women  are  educated  and  afterwards 
given  employment,  and  homes  are  found  for  the  destitute. 
They  claim  that  the  school  was  asked  of  God  in  prayer 
and  given  by  Him  in  answer  thereto — and  in  the  ante- 
room many  verses  of  scripture  are  quoted  on  the  walls 
as  proof  of  the  legitimacy  of  their  position,  and  which 
all  Christians  with  much  experience  can  believe.  They 
are  prosecuting  a  vigorous  work  and  will  be  perceptibly 
felt  in  that  gangrenous  capitol. 

The  weather  was  fair  and  considering  the  brevity  of 
my  stay,  I  had  a  fine  opportunity  of  studying  French 
outdoor  city  life. 

They  are  a  gay  and  contented  looking  people,  and 
notwithstanding  the  words,  ^^Libertie,  Egalitie,  Fraterni- 
tie,^^  are  engraved  or  painted  over  the  portals  of  every 
public  building  the  iron  paling,  fifteen  feet  high  around 
them,  and  the  jail-like  defences  in  front  of  private  win- 
dows tell  that  up  to  this  time  a  commune  was  not  only 
a  possibility,  but  a  probability  at  any  time. 

The  poor  had  a  way  of  exposing  themselves  in  order 
to  be  hurt  by  passing  vehicles,  as  they  were  supported 
during  convalescence.  The  custom  became  so  general 
as  to  require  an  ordinance  fining  anyone  who  was  hurt 
by  such  means.  Of  course  few  were  found  willing  to 
pay  a  fine  for  the  luxury  of  being  run  over  by  a  cab. 

Hotel  Haute  Loire,  203  Boulevard  Raspail  and  B. 
Yard,  Mt.  Parnasse  is  a  good  one,  and  convenient  to  the 
.Exposition  grounds  and  places  of  most  interest,  and 
English  is  really  spoken. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


PARIS  TO  ITALY. 


Having  spent  several  days  in  Paris,  visiting  the  various 
places  and  objects  th:it  claim  a  stranger's  notice,  as  the 
Louvre,  depository  of  the  most  famous  works  of  Art 
from  the  most  ancient  to  modern  times,  Jardin  des  Plants, 
where  perhaps  the  largest  collection  of  plants  in  the 
world  are  to  be  seen,  a  very  large  exhibit  of  animals, 
birds,  reptiles,  fossils,  &c.,  &c.,  Jardin  du  Luxomhourg, 
Tuilleries,  Champs  Elysees,  Boulevards,  Arches,  Towers, 
&c.,  &c.,  the  most  comprehensive  exhibit  of  goods  for  the 
shambles  extant,  I  left  this  city  so  famed  for  displays,  for 
men  of  science,  learning  and  war,  for  its  lov.e  of  the  beau- 
tiful and  blood  for  Italy.  We  soon  ran  into  the  green 
gardens  that  feed  the  vast  population  on  vegetables.  We 
see  thousands  of  plants  under  glass  vessels  about  gallon 
measures,  to  protect  them  from  cold,  and  going  up  the 
Seine,  we  soon  run  into  the  wildest  scenery,  seemingly, 
"where  mortal  foot  hath  ne'er  or  rarely  been,"  but  find 
it  is  only  a  park  which  has  doubtless  been  preserved  by 
the  decendants  of  some  feudal  lord,  it  is  here  the  large 
hares  of  which  we  saw  so  many  are  grown.  Up  the 
Seine  we  fly,  now  over  a  bridge  now  under  one,  all  of 
which  are  built  of  stone,  beautiful  villas  adorn  the  brows 
of  the  hills,  and  grassy  meadows  lie  between,  green  to 
the  very  water's  edge,  even  in  mid  winter.  We  are  now 
at  the  head  of  navigation ;  here  is  a  dam  thrown  across, 
ah,   no,  there  is  a  lock,  and   boats  can  pass;  here  is 


32 

another  park  and  balsams  and  other  evergreens  are 
thick  ;  we  emerge  from  the  forest  and  here  is  another 
yilla,  where  once  a  Feudal  Baron  lived  in  State  upon 
the  hard  earnings  of  his  serfs.  Not  all  the  griefs  of  the 
feudal  system  are  gone  from  republican  France  yet,  as 
the  little  patches  of  «jround,  the  thached  roofs  that  cluster 
about  some  pretentious  mansion,  as  well  as  other  facts 
of  modern  history  testify.  We  see  the  washer  women 
down  by  the  river  br.nk  with  their  goods.  This  is  tlie 
custom  both  in  France  and  elsewhere  in  Europe.  I  met 
with  the  same  trouble  in  leaving  Macon  that  Lee  Meri- 
wether had  in  getting  there,  I  could  find  no  one  speaking 
English,  nor  any  one  who  could  understand  my  French, 
ou  est  le  convoi  i^oar  Modane  T^  said  I  to  a  number  of  men ; 
they  would  all  tell  me  something,  but  I  could  not  under- 
stand, finally  I  got  on  the  right  one.  The  real  trouble 
was  this ;  I  found  the  right  train  but  the  wrong  side, 
they  would  show  me  the  one  and  motion  round,  I  would 
go  round  and  try  to  take  another  and  say,  ici  'puiir 
Modane  ?  One  can  enter  the  cars  from  only  one  side  at 
an}^  one  station.  Sleeping  a  few  hours  I  awoke  to  look 
out  upon  snow-capped  rijountains.  Soon  we  enter  a 
valley  and  the  mountains  begin  to  look  higher  and 
higher,  on  we  sweep  through  a  dozen  tunnels  up  a  beau- 
tiful, sinuous  stream.  We  reach  Lac  de  Bourget,  a  beauti- 
ful sheet  of  water,  cle  ir  as  crystal  with  a  greenthit  at  the 
bottom  that  renders  it  with  mountains  bej^ond  and  strip 
of  fog  and  solitary  fa  m  house  and  fiying  duck  all  reflect- 
ed on  its  quiet  face  a  picture  fit  for  any  artist's  pencil. 

The  public  road  up  this  valley  surpasses  anything  of 
its  kind  I  have  ever  seen,  graded  as  carefully  as  the 
railroad  with  stones  set  to  mark  every  mile,  and  round 
*Wliere  is  the  train  for  Modane  ? 


33 

stones  every  few  feet  to  guard  the  trees  planted  every 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  for  shade  in  summer.  I  heartily 
wish  every  road  maker  in  America  couid  see  it.  The 
bridges  are  all  of  stone  or  iron. 

By  the  fails  in  the  river  beside  the  railroad,  I  know 
we  are  risinii  fast,  as  well  as  by  the  snow,  which  is  now 
deepening  on  the  gromid.  Thousands  of  feet  above 
the  threatening  craggs  look  down.  High  up  as  material 
could  be  carried  the  mountaineer  has  fastened  his  cottage, 
the  eaves  seeming  to  be  buried  in  the  mountain  on  the 
upper  side ;  why  they  should  have  been  put  there,  all 
beyond  being  inaccessible,  approach  to  them  almost  im- 
possible— except  to  ihe  birds  or  the  chamois — is  as  great 
a  mystery  as  to  tell  how  their  children  can  be  reared 
without  falling  out  of  doors  and  rolling  over  the  precipi- 
ces to  the  valley  below.  Soon  we  will  reach  Mt.  Cenis 
tunnel,  no,  we  stop  at  Modane  till  midnight. 

Modane,  at  the  State  boundary,  is  a  pretty  httle 
Italian  town.  I  learn  here  the  way  they  have  of  making 
a  passenger  pay  for  his  ticket  and  enough  besides  to  pay 
the  government  tax  on  the  railroads ;  five  centimes  above 
the  price  stamped  on  the  billet  is  the  universal  custom. 
On  the  mountains  around  Modane  many  cannon  frown 
upon  all  the  avenues  of  travel,  defying  any  other  Xapo- 
leon  to  pass  these  mountains  to  surprise  and  capture  a 
lethargic  land. 

Custom-house  officers,  which  are  found  at  nearly  every 
town  of  any  size,  expect  po^r  bois,  or  drink  money,  for 
the  pains  of  searching  through  your  baggage.  I  begin 
to  practice  on  these  border  Italians,  with  the  purpose  of 
paying  just  as  little  cash  for  having  my  valise  emptied 
as  possible,  so  I  appear  not  to  understand  what  they 
mean.     I  say  "English,"  "no  understand."     "iVo?i  parlo 


ritaliano!"  To  all  their  pantomimes,  which  really  mean,, 
pay  me  a  lira,  I  look  like  a  dummy  and  pass  on. 

It  is  after  midnight  on  the  first  day  of  February  when 
the  cars  leave  Modane  gave  (station)  heading  towards 
Turin.  The  ground  is  covered  with  snow,  and  our  com- 
partment is  warmed  up  by  two  large  zinc  tanks  half 
filled  with  hot  water.  One  can  rest  his  feet  on  these  and 
keep  warm ;  they  are  changed  about  every  two  hours  for 
hotter  ones.  In  case  of  an  accident  there  would  be  no 
danger  of  fire  except  from  the  lamps,  but  they  are  alto- 
gether insufficient  for  warming  travelers  as  our  American 
cars  do. 

There  is  a  long  step  outside  reaching  the  whole  length 
of  the  coach ;  along  this  the  officer  running  the  train 
sometimes  walks  to  see  if  all  is  well,  and  in  some  Euro- 
pean States  to  collect  or  punch  the  ticket. 

There  is  a  large  number  of  officials  at  every  station  ; 
only  one  or  two  employees  on  each  train.  The  porters 
and  ticket  collectors  are  at  the  stations.  It  is  difficult 
to  leave  the  train  without  their  aid.  The  advantage  of 
having  them  at  the  station  is  that  fewer  men  can  do  the 
work. 

From  Paris  to  Rome  there  is  a  train  every  hour  or 
two,  and  the  same  agents  attend  to  them  all,  besides 
doing  local  work.  The  cars  have  eight  or  ten  doors 
opening  on  the  sides  to  compartments  having  two  seats 
each  perpendicular  to  the  course  of  the  train,  the  pas- 
sengers occupying  them  being  vis-a-vis.  The  doors  are 
doubly  fastened  on  the  outside  and  one  can  scarcely 
reach  the  fastening  from  within.  When  you  wish  to- 
descend  you  have  to  beat  the  door  and  yell  for  a  porter. 
One  is  seldom  asked  for  a  billet  (ticket)  while  aboard,  but 
when  leaving  the  train  the  passenger  has  to  pass  througk 


35 

a  gate,  where  his  ticket  is  demanded.  In  Italy  without 
a  ticket  one  has  to  pay  four  times  the  price  of  one.  If 
one  rides  on  a  first  class  car  when  he  has  a  second  class 
ticket,  three  times  the  difference  between  the  fares  is 
required.  So  I  learned  from  fellow  travelers.  The  class 
is  marked  in  large  Fs,  thus :  First  class,  I ;  second  class, 
II;  third  class,  III,  on  the  door  to  each  compartment. 

Some  trains  are  only  first  class  throughout,  others  first 
and  second  classes,  again  they  are  mixed,  and  when  they 
are  the  classes  of  coaches  are  mixed  sure  enough.  They 
are  coupled  together  regardless  of  order,  and  the  mail  is 
coupled  in  the  rear.  There  are  no  conveniences  on  any 
trains  run  for  the  public  in  Europe. 

The  style  of  these  cars  is  favorable  for  murder  or 
robbery,  being  in  compartments  as  elsewhere  described, 
so  electric  bells  are  provided  in  case  of  foul  play,  which 
has  occurred  on  some  English  railways. 

At  five  o'clock,  passing  Mont  Cenis  tunnel,  we  are  in 
Turin,  called  by  the  Italians  Turino,  a  beautiful  city 
and  once  the  capital  of  Piedmont.  We  go  from  this, 
place  to  Pisa  and  Florence. 


CHAPTER  V. 


GENOA— ''PEARL  OF  THE  SEA: 


About  sun  up  we  reached  the  Po,  on  whose  classic 
banks  still  weep  the  unhapjjy  sisters  of  the  rash,  unfor- 
tunate Pha?ton,  who,  alternately  freezing  and  scorching 
the  earth  while  driving  the  chariot  of  the  Sun,  was  cast 
by  JoYe  down  headlong  into  this  stream.  At  least  Ovid 
so  told  us  when  a  boy.  We  ascend  a  ravine  down  which 
plunges  a  beautiful  rivulet,  on  whose  banks  are  many 
villages,  through  another  tunnel  about  two  miles  long, 
.and  down  another  gorge  towards  Genoa,  called  by  the 
Italians  Genova.  It  is  the  wealthiest  city  in  Italy,  con- 
taining with  its  suburbs  180,000  people.  Half  of  the 
males  of  proper  age  are  soldiers ;  half  of  the  male  pas- 
sengers on  the  cars  are  soldiers. 

On  reaching  Genoa  I  was  met  at  the  traiu  by ,  a 

host  of  porters,  and  men  and  boys  wanting  to  help  me, 
ready  to  take  one's  valise,  either  with  or  without  his 
permission. 

The  first  thing  that  greets  one's  eye  on  entering  the 
street  is  the  statue  erected  to  Christopher  Columbus,  the 
figure  of  America  kneeling  at  the  base  of  the  statue,  and 
the  allegorical  figures  of  Peligion,  Geography,  Strength 
^nd  Wisdom  seated  around,  and  between  which  are  re- 
liefs of  scenes  from  the  discoverer's  life.  It  was  built 
.about  twenty-seven  years  ago. 

I  worshiped   on  Sunday  at  the  English  church,  and 


heard  an  average  sermon  from  Math.  8:24,  after  which  I 
introduced  myself  to  the  rector  and  inquired  about 
Protestant  religion  in  Grenoa.  He  and  a  Presbyterian 
minister  have  four  churches  which  are  useful  chiefly  in; 
affording  seamen  and  travellers  with  church  privileges.. 
Italians  do  not  take  to  Protestants.  To  their  mind  it  is 
like  "carrying  coals  to  New  Castle."  I  heard  the  Wal- 
densian  preacher,  however,  preach  a  sermon  in  Italian  to 
a  crowded  house,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  seemed  to  rest  on 
him  and  his  people  throughout  the  service. 

I  was  favorably  impressed  with  the  Genoese;  there  is 
quite  a  contrast  between  them  and  the  French ;  if  any- 
thing they  are  more  ostentations,  and  are  a  much  better 
looking  people. 

And  historians  say  all  their  energies  have  been  con- 
centrated on  making  money,  whence  it  has  come  to  pass 
that  she  is  the  wealthiest  city  in  all  Italy.  She  has  not 
been  rich  in  the  Arts  nor  Sciences,  but  has  contributed 
indirectly  to  their  encouragement. 

Some  say  Genoa  derives  its  name  from  the  likeness  of 
the  bay  on  which  it  is  built  to  a  knee,  called  in  Latin, 
genu.  The  mountains  press  close  down  upon  the  sea,, 
giving  but  little  level  land  on  which  to  build,  but  if 
they  could  not  build  wide  they  certainly  built  high. 
The  average  height  of  the  buildings  of  the  entire  city  is 
probably  six  stories.  Many  of  the  streets  are  very  nar- 
row, not  over  eight  feet  wide. 

The  police  of  Genoa  are  a  very  fine  looking  set  of 
men ;  they  dress  finely,  wearing  silk  hats  and  their 
clothes  cut  in  the  latest  styles.  Both  in  Paris  and 
Genoa  a  peculiar  kind  of  dray  is  used — two  long  skids^ 
say  thirty  feet  long,  between  which  at  one  end  stands. 


38 

the  horse,  for  jSB^j  are  both  for  shafts  and  body  to  the 
dray,  are  bal»ced  on  the  axle  about  two  feet  apart,  and 
braced  togeimer  from  end  to  end ;  on  these  poles  or 
scantlings  t^e  load  of  boxes,  bags  or  barrels  will  be 
packed  to  the  amount  of  two  or  three  tons.  When  the 
load  is  too  heavy  for  one  horse  another  is  hitched  in 
front  of  him,  a  third  in  front  of  the  second,  and  so  on. 
Such  gearing  is  inconvenient,  and  often  on  turning  cor- 
ners the  horse  next  to  the  load  is  thrown  down,  often  the 
load  pitching  forward  preventing  him  from  rising.  No 
place  on  earth  needs  a  law  preventing  cruelty  to  animals 
worse  than  Genoa. 

I  arrived  on  Saturday — blue  Saturday.  I  was  amazed 
to  see  thousands  of  windows  full  of  clothes  hung  out  to 
dry,  until  I  reflected,  there  is  no  where  else  to  dry  them, 
except  by  the  fire.  So  it  was  the  raggedest  town  I  ever 
saw.  While  Genoa  is  so  wealthy  the  majority  of  her 
citizens  are  poor.  There  is  little  to  do.  I  saw  nothing 
to  indicate  that  they  were  lazy.  On  the  wharves  men 
stood  around  waiting  for  ships  to  come  in,  anxious  for  a 
job.  Others  Avere  sweeping  the  streets  for  the  sweepings. 
There  were  few  or  no  gossiping  groups.  They  are 
striving  to  improve  their  people  morally,  have  many 
institutions  of  charity,  asylums  for  destitute  children 
and  abandoned  women,  and  a  statute  was  enacted  during 
my  sojourn  with  a  view^  of  suppressing  as  far  as  j)0ssi- 
ble  the  existing  lewdness.  Copies  of  this  ordinance  were 
carried  tlyough  every  street  next  day  and  thousands  of 
copies  distributed. 

I  should  not  have  been  able  to  glean  so  many  facts 
but  for  the  kindness  of  the  Italian  merchant  previously 
referred  to.     He  showed  me  the  churches  and  explained 


39 

the  events  connected  with  them — the  monuments,  walls, 
palaces,  and  the  institutions  of  the  city.  I  saw  the 
house  Columbus  was  born  in,  and  also  that  which  his 
father  was  bom  in ;  they  are  near  together.  The  first 
is  seven  stories  high,  while  those  on  either  side  are  eight. 
It  has  a  brown  stuccoed  front,  and  is  perhaps  1,000 
years  old.  Near  by  are  the  old  city  walls,  on  which  for 
some  years  hung  the  chains  taken  from  subjugated  Pisa, 
but  restored  when  Italia  was  united  under  one  govern- 
ment, and  which  I  saw  hanging  in  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa. 
In  a  small  museum  here  are  exhibited  the  instruments  of 
torture  used  during  the  inquisition,  and  life-like  figures 
in  wax  showing  the  marks  made  upon  martyrs  of  those 
days;  one  for  clipping  off  the  end  of- the  tongue,  one 
with  iron  teeth  in  a  band  fitting  around  the  head,  the 
band  being  in  two  sections  with  arms  like  tongs,  which 
enabled  the  one  using  it  to  apply  lever  power  for  pressing 
the  iron  teeth  into  the  skull,  chills  the  beholder's  blood. 
The  church  of  St.  Lorenzo  is  built  of  alternate  layers 
of  black  and  white  marble,  the  interior  is  finely  decora- 
ted with  paintings  and  statuary  and  is  very  impressive. 
This  church  is  said  to  contain  the  body  of  John  the 
Baptist  in  a  gold  coffin,  taken  from  the  Venetians,  By 
paying  one  of  the  sextons  a  small  fee  he  will  take  you 
around  to  the  rear  of  the  chapel  of  St.  John  (the  church 
contains  several  chapels)  even  during  service  there,  strike 
a  match  which  makes  even  more  weird  the  ghostly  light 
of  the  place  and  explain  how  that  this  (marble)  coffin  is 
not  the  other  (gold)  one,  that  contains  the  real  body  of 
John,  and  for  the  privilege  of  seeing  which  you  paid 
your  money,  and  which  can  be  shown  by  him  after  the 
visitor,  by  much  ceremony,  obtains  a  special  permit.  As 
we  expected  to  visit  several  other  cities  where  John  Bap- 


40 

tist  has  bodies,  we  desisted  from  further  effort  to  see- 
this  one. 

St.  ximbrose  is  the  oldest  and  wealthiest  church  in  the 
city,  and  had  many  worshipers  in  its  chapels  during  our 
yisit  on  Monday. 

The  Exchange  was  about  as  busy  as  that  in  Xew  York, 
though  not  so  wild ;  here  is  the  marble  statue  of  Cavour, 
the  great  statesman,  who  died  endeavoring  to  unite  his 
countrymen  into  one  commonwealth.  He  triumphed, 
but  like  most  others  whose  lives  are  given  to  the  develop- 
ment of  great  schemes,  he  did  not  live  to  realize  the- 
benefit  of  his  endeavors.  He  is  represented  as  seated, 
giving  counsel.  It  w^as  for  a  long  time  the  dream  of 
Italian  statesmen  to  unite  their  country,  but  the  diffi- 
culties of  locomotion  previous  to  railroads,  together  with 
local  prejudices  and  popular  ignorance  forbade  the  fea- 
sibility of  such  a  project.  The  application  of  steam  to 
facilitate  and  so  to  multiply  production,  travel  and  com- 
merce will  not  only  unite  larger  territories,  but  establish 
a  widespread  homogeneity,  gradually  introducing  similar 
manners  the  world  over.  Clothing  houses  in  London 
now  stipply  retailers  in  all  the  large  cities  of  the  world. 
The  shoes  worn  here  now  would  be  styled  by  a  certain 
modern  Southern  evangelist  "  tooth-picks." 

The  toga  of  the  ancient  Roman  is  modernised  into  a 
cloak  or  talma  reaching  to  the  knees  and  folding  twice 
in  front  of  the  wearer,  the  border  passing  over  the 
shoulder  and  falling  down  the  back.  They  look  grace- 
ful. 

Costa  Agostino,  my  Italian  friend,  gained  admission 
for  me  into  some  of  the  principal  palaces.  We  visited 
that  of  Duke  Galiera,  who  gave  24,000,000  lirae  to  im- 
prove the  harbor  by  building  about  a  mile  of  break- 


41 

water.  It  was  made  of  stone  and  blocks  of  hydraulic 
lime  and  sand  weighing  some  twenty  tons  each.  This 
wall  rises  nearly  thirty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea 
and  is  about  thirty  feet  broad.  Result :  one  of  the 
best  harbors  in  the  world,  while  it  is  the  busiest  in 
Italy.  The  walls  are  in  two  sections,  between  which 
vessels  enter  port. 

The  authorities  have  police  cruising  near  the  shore 
all  the  time  to  protect  the  fish  from  dynamiters. 

Galiera's  wife  built  the  hospital  of  St.  Andrew,  cap- 
able of  succoring  two  thousand  inmates,  I  judge,  at  one 
time. 

The  palace  of  Spinola  on  Via  Roma  contains  the  por- 
trait of  Andrew  Doria,  once  the  Princeps  of  Liguria,  also 
his  statue  in  marble,  together  with  portaits  of  a  dozen  of 
their  pristine  chiefs;  bird's  eye  views  of  the  principal 
cities  of  Italy  are  painted  on  the  walls  of  the  upper 
halls.     It  is  used  for  government  offices  partly. 

I  saw  the  daughter  of  the  woman  who  saved  Gari- 
baldi by  concealing  him  three  days  in*  her  house.  A 
marble  slab  above  the  door  in  piazza  di  Sarzano  marks 
the  place.  It  happened  thus :  He  advocated  a  republic  ; 
the  King  sought  his  life  ;  he  hid  in  the  house  of  a  coal- 
seller ;  on  the  third  day  he  shaved,  put  on  the  coal  deal- 
er's clothes,  took  a  bag  of  coal  on  his  shoulder,  passed 
out  the  city  gates  and  was  safe. 

The  Mazzini  palace  is  the  Palais  Royal^of  Genoa..  The 
exhibits  there  quite  equal  those  of  Broadway,  N.  Y. 

They  have  a  small  but  very  pretty  park  in  the  center 
of  the  city  called  Vilatta  di  Nigro.  From  the  elevated 
summit  of  this  beautiful  place  I  first  saw  the  blue  Med- 
iterranean, whose  history  would  be  almost  a  history  of 
the  world.  As  I  gazed  I  pondered  on  stories  of  Jason 
4 


42 

and  of  Jonah,  of  Xerxes  and  the  Greeks,  of  Troy  and 
Anchises'  Son,  of  the  Phoenicians,  Syracusans,  Cartha- 
ginians and  Colombo. 

Millions  may  rest  in  the  Necropoles  of  Egypt,  but 
who  could  number  the  shipwrecked  victims  asleep  with 
the  Mermaids  there ! 

In  this  park  is  the  statue  of  Joseph  Mazzini  in 
marble,  twenty  feet  high,  and  the  equestrian  statue  of 
Victor  Emmanuel,  the  first  King  of  United  Italy. 

Leaving  Genoa  the  road  winds  through  the  Riviera 
towards  Leghorn  for  three  or  four  hours  nearly  half  the 
time  under-groand,  suddenly  you  dart  out  into  a  villa 
prettier  than  any  picture,  and  scores  of  them  rivalling 
any  residences  on  Fifth  Avenue  adorn  the  hills  facing 
the  sea. 

The  grandeur  of  such  scenery  is  more  easily  imagined 
than  described  in  which  beetl'ng  crags,  barren  or 
crowned  with  verdant  shrubbery  now  swing  over  our 
flying  coach,  now  are  penetrated  by  it  or  recede  far  up 
in  proud  disdain,  the  terraced  sides  and  valleys  between, 
clad  in  vines,  olives  and  chestnuts,  while  on  our  right 
the  sea  in  mimic  combat  charges  almost  into  the  win- 
dows of  our  car,  but  the  surf  is  lost  in  spray  or  recedes, 
to  be  swallowed  up,  the  sun  sinks  into  the  gilded  bosom 
of  the  deep  and  the  kaleidoscope  revolves  to  show  by 
twilight's  milder  ray  what  "Heaven  hath  done  for  this 
delightful  land."  We  leave  the  coast  run  up  the  Arno 
and  are  soon  in  Pisa,  where  we  stop  for  a  day. 


CHAPTER  VI, 


PISA,  FLORENCE. 


All  the  way  from  Alessandria  to  Pisa  the  most  luxu- 
Tiant  o-ardens  are  to  be  seen.  I  counted  thirteen  differ- 
ent kinds  of  green  salad  in  one  near  Genoa  and  haA^e  seen 
scores  like  it. 

Pisa  is  an  average  looking  city  with  massive  walls  and 
iron  gates,  still  kept  closed  at  night,  as  when  they  were 
a  republic,  or  a  kingdom.  Pisa,  you  know,  was  founded 
by  Pelops,  the  grand-son  of  Jove,  and  son  of  Tantalus 
^nd  Phrygia,  and  was  once  the  most  war-like  of  any  of 
the  Italian  states.  They  whipped  the  Greeks  once  at 
Constantinople.  She  boasts  the  oldest  university  of 
any  country,  giving  to  the  world  Galileo. 

His  lamp  still  swings  in  the  Duomo ;  but  has 
never  suggested  a  new  idea  to  a  mortal  since.  There 
are  four  buildings  which  all  foreigners  passing  this  way 
think  it  worth  while  to  visit.  The  Duomo,  the  Leaning 
Tower,  the  Baptistery  and  the  Campo  Santo. 

The  Duomo  was  built  largely  of  the  spoils  of  the  Sara 
€ens  of  Palermo,  in  the  expedition  undertaken  A.  D.  1063. 
There  are  seventy-two  columns  in  the  interior  of  the 
church,  of  granite  and  marble;  vast  amounts  of  verde 
antique  laplslazuli,  porphtjry^  bronze  and  gilt  adorn  this 
temple.  The  design  is  by  Michael  Angelo,  and  is 
in   the   shape   of   a   Latin   cross,   the   style   is   a  mix- 


44 

ture  of  the  Grecian  and  Arabic.  The  floor  is  marble- 
mosaic — curious  designs ;  ceiling  black  and  gilt ;  the 
main  altar  is  separated  from  the  nave  by  a  marble  balus- 
trade about  seven  feet  high;  within  is  a  black  cross- 
with  the  figure  of  Christ  upon  it,  suspended  from  the 
ceiling  about  sixty  or  seventy  feet.  The  cross  is  about 
four  by  six  feet.  There  is  a  marble  piazza  about  tAventy 
feet  wide  all  round  the  outside  of  the  Duomo,  and  the 
green  grass  in  the  campus  renders  the  whole  a  fresh  and 
pleasing  object  to  the  eye. 

Immediately  to  the  rear  of  the  Duomo  is  the  Baptis- 
tery, built  by  one  florin  from  every  citizen  of  the  repub- 
lic in  the  thirteenth  century.  Here  is  a  large  font  of 
Parian  marble  and  one  of  the  finest  pulpits  in  the  world. 
The  peculiar  attraction  of  this  structure  is  the  echo: 
sing  a  few  notes  and  pause,  and  they  are  heard  far  up  in 
the  dome,  and  after  a  few  moments  still  farther  up,  but 
fainter ;  so,  says  a  gifted  writer,  "  good  deeds,  hardly 
noted  in  our  grosser  atmosphere,  awake  a  divine  echo  in 
the  far  world  of  spirits." 

We  went  from  the  Baptistery  to  Campo  Santo  (sacred 
camp,  or  cemetery).  The  earth  in  the  old  portion  be- 
tween the  walls  was  brought  from  Jaffa,  when  the  Tus- 
can Knights  made  their  memorable  pilgrimage  to  the 
Holy  Land :  it  was  jout  in  their  boats  for  ballast ;  it  is 
claimed  that  it  will  decompose  any  human  body  in  two 
days.  The  walls  around  this  form  a  rectangle  and  dis- 
play many  frescoes  of  the  fourteenth  century,  with  sixty- 
tw^o  Gothic  arcades. 

I  had  always  thought  the  Leaning  Tower  was  on  a 
hillside  and  leaned  toward  the  West ;  it  is  in  a  great 
plain,  as  is  the  whole  city,  and  leans  toward  the  South. 
I  ascended  to  the  top,  where  Galileo  so  often  surveyed 


LEANING  TO  AVER   OF   PISA. 


46 

the  planetary  worlds.  The  whole  is  of  marble  and  gran- 
ite. There  is  nothing  to  prevent  one  from  falling  from 
the  first  seven  stories  except  about  eight  feet  of  railing 
in  front  of  the  doors.  The  top  has  an  iron  rail  all  the 
way  round.  Here  one  has  a  fine  view  of  the  Carrara 
mountains,  supplying  a  good  quality  of  marble,  of  the 
winding  course  of  the  Arno  to  the  sea  and  upwards 
many  miles  towards  Florence,  the  city  lies  at  our  feet. 

Just  out  of  Pisa  we  noticed  factories  making  cotton 
cloth,  of  all  the  gaudy  styles. 

Nearly  all  of  the  rich,  alluvial  bottom  land  of  the 
Arno  from  Pisa  to  Florence,  (called  here  Firenze)  is 
planted  in  grapevines.  The  land  is  laid  off  by  ditches 
into  irregular  rectangles ;  on  each  side  is  a  row  of  trees, 
cut  off  six  to  ten  feet  high  and  allowed  to  grow,  but  kept 
cut  short;  these  support  the  vines  and  at  the  same  time 
supply  thousands  of  twigs,  annually,  for  willow-ware ;  be- 
tween the  ditches,  say  forty  yards,  the  land  is  cultivated 
in  wheat,  gardens,  &c.  They  turn  it  mostly  with  a  spade. 
They  drive  heifers  large  as  ordinary  oxen  ;  also  a  car-load 
of  them  was  being  shipped,  all  milk-white. 

At  Florence  many  donkeys  are  driven  to  buggies  and 
drays ;  the  horses  are  all,  or  nearly  all,  very  poor,  and 
seemed  to  be  driven  almost  to  death,  and  poorly  fed. 

Their  dogfs  are  all  either  muzzled  when  on  the  streets 
or  led  by  their  masters  or  mistresses.  I  saw,  for  the  first 
time  a  woman  in  our  hotel  here  smoking  a  cigar.  In  all 
the  cities  visited  since  leaving  New  York,  nearly  every 
square  has  little  booths  where  all  the  papers  of  the  nation 
are  on  sale.  These  are  a  reading  people,  they  have  doz- 
ens of  book-stores  and  libraries ;  every  cafe  is  expected 
to  have  a  dozen  papers  on  the  tables  for  customers  to  read 
while  sipping  their  coffee,  milk  or  wine.     All  their  daily 


47 

papers  sell  for  one  cent  each.  It  is  only  a  question  as 
to  who  holds  the  helm,  to  determine  whither  the  ship 
wdll  drive. 

There  are  many  unsettled  questions  in  Italy  yet,  but 
the  decline  of  the  papal  power  is  not  one  of  them,  and 
looking  at  papal  Italy  in  one  of  her  strongest  holds,  I 
do  not  think  any  great  nation  of  the  world  has  anything 
to  fear  from  this  source,  excei:)t  that  deadness  to  spiritu- 
ality w^iich  seems  to  rest  on  her  votaries.  Compromis- 
ing on  forms,  she  gives  ease  to  the  conscience  of  many 
who  are  spiritually  dead. 

At  S.  Spirito  Annunziata  to-day,  filled  with  worship- 
pers, many  on  their  knees,  followed  visitors  around  the 
church  with  their  eves  ;  one  man  on  his  knees  was  talk- 
ing to  another  standing  up.  One  no  doubt  pious  wo- 
man dropped  her  penny  into  the  contribution  box,  by 
the  door,  and  stooj^ed  and  kissed  it  as  she  retired. 

This  church  and  the  Duomo  have  remarkable  re- 
sounding qualities,  and  the  priests  with  their  choristers 
and  responsive  readings,  make  a  noise  about  equal  to  a 
dozen  hives  of  swarming  bees. 

The  church,  whose  worship  is  a  strange  compound  of 
Jewish  and  Pagan  customs,  and  whose  doctrines  pander- 
to  all  the  natural  propensities  of  fallen  human  nature,, 
has  run  to  great  extremes.  I  was  rej^roved  by  a  Catho- 
lic for  singing,  "  Let  the  Saviour  in,"  as  wanting  in  rev- 
erence. Yet  he  frequently  took  God's  name  in  vain, 
and  swore  continually.  He  was,  however,  no  doubt, 
sincere  in  his  reproof. 

The  Duomo  engaged  the  greatest  architects  known  to 
fame.  Across  the  street  from  the  Dom  two  figures  in  mar- 
ble are  seated,  one  holding  a  trestle-board  on  which  de- 
signs of  the  building  are  drawn  and  at  which  his  eyes  are 


48 

gazing  as  if  he  contemplated  changes.  This  is  Brunel- 
leschi.  Hard  by  this  sits  Michael  Angelo,  with  face  up- 
turned towards  the  dome.  He  studies  it  as  a  model  for 
St.  Peters. 

We  went  to  St.  Croce  to  look  upon  the  tombs  of  the 
Popes,  Cardinals,  Poets,  Sculptors,  Architects  and  great 
men  whom  the  Italians  and  Catholics  have  delighted  to 
honor.  We  found  the  inscriptions  on  many  a  grave- 
stone worn  smooth  by  the  feet  of  many  visitors.  Gali- 
leo's tomb  is  a  sarcophagus  of  variegated  marble.  He 
sits  on  it  with  telescoj^e  in  hand,  and  gazes  into  the 
heavens. 

"  In  Santa  Croce' s  lioly  precincts  lie 

Ashes  which  make  it  holier,  dust  which  is, 
Even  in  itself,  an  immortality. 

Though  there  were  nothing  save  the  past  and  this, 
The  particle  of  those  sublimities 

Which  have  relapsed  to  chaos :  here  repose 
Angelo's,  Alfieri's  bones,  and  his. 

The  starry  Galileo,  with  his  woes  ; 

Here  Machiavelli's  earth  returned  to  whence  it  rose. 

We  do  the  Uffizzi,  Palatine,  Buornorotti,  Ancient  and 
Modern  gsMeries,  the  Piazzas,  Gardens,  (fee.  I  will  let  the 
Rev.  J.  M.  Buckley,  D.  D.,  Editor  of  The  Christian  Ad- 
vocate, New  York,  who  was  iii  Florence  about  the  same 
time  as  myself,  and  who  calls  this  city  the  shrine  of 
Art,  Science  and  Literature,  speak  for  me  as  to  the  im- 
pression made  by  Florentine  galleries.     He  says  : 

"  After  several  days  spent  in  the  galleries  and  palaces  of 
Florence  I  found  my  eyes  'dim  with  excess  of  light"  and 
my  mind  in  a  confused  state — basins  of  porphyry,  por- 
traits of  Samson,  banners  of  Italian  cities,  mosaics  and 
ceilings  painted   in   imitation   of  mosaics,  "Judith  and   Holo- 


49 

femes,,  Madonnas  and  saints  without  number,  the  Magi,  Ve- 
nus, Bacchus,  St.  Paul,  Csesar,  tombs,  cherubs,  Laocoons,  satyrs 
with  gaps  in  their  teeth,  Cupids  on  a  dolphin,  Amazons 
lighting,  small  gray  birds  with  red  crests,  heads  of  the  Medusa 
death  of  Virgin  Mary,  angels  with  mandolin,  massacre  of  inno- 
cents, Luther's  wife,  kings  on  horseback,  gamblers  struck  by 
lightning,  columns  of  oriental  alabaster,  vases  of  rock  crys- 
tal, portraits  of  popes  and  cardinals  and  of  Pluto,  men  with 
apes  upon  their  shoulders,  boar  hunts,  ancient  bronze  helmets, 
spurs,  lamps,  old  manuscripts,  vaulted  aisles  and  statues  of  the 
archangel  Michael,  all  thrown  together,  with  the  names  of  Van 
Dyck,  Reubens,  Correggio,  Raphael,  Da  Vinci,  and  Titian  in- 
discriminately applied  to  them.  I  was  intoxicated  with  art. 
But  after  a  few  days  my  vision  clarified,  and  there  came  out  a 
score  of  paintings  and  statues  as  distinctly  impressed  upon  the 
mind's  eye  as  the  most  vivid  perception  of  the  physical  orb- 
All  the  rest  is  lost  in  the  milky  way  of  finite  memory,  but  those 
which  remain  will  shine  on  until  the  canopy  is  darkened  with 
the  shadowing  of  the  oblivion  in  which  our  most  delightful 
sensations,  as  well  as  those  which  are  painful,  are  lost." 

By  a  fortunate  accident  I  was  permitted  to  see  Pitti 
Palace,  where  the  King  resides,  when  in  Florence;  the 
walls  of  each  room  are  covered  with  silk,  and  the  color 
and  design  of  each  is  different.  The  upholstery  corre- 
ponds  with  the  finish  of  the  walls,  which  in  the  King's 
bed-room  is  lemon-colored  silk,  filled  with  rich  designs ; 
the  Ball-room,  King's  Reception,  Bed-room,  Budoir,  and 
Throne-room,  the  Queen's  Reception-room  and  Bed- 
room, the  ro^yal  Dining-room  with  chairs  set  for  sixty- 
six  were  shown ;  Victoria  and  Dom  Pedro  et  alii  ate 
here  last  year  at  a  great  reception  given  by  Humbert 
I.  We  were  shown  through  the  rooms  of  the  Prince  of 
Naples,  then  through  the  archives,  in  which  were  stored 
thousands  of  pieces  of  gold  and  silver  plate. 

The  day  was  done  and  returning  to  our  hotel  we 
queried,  "Will  the  world  ever  get  what  it  needs?"   viz  : 


50 

Men  of  brains  and  prestige  and  means  to  go  to  work  for 
man?  Yes,  possibly  these  will  be  forthcoming,  when  the 
church  and  society  following  shall  put  a  proper  pre- 
mium on  that  kind  of  labor,  rather  than  on  a  selfish 
monopolizing,  yet  tipping  plutocracy. 

Only  let  Christians  of  means  indicate  in  their  inter- 
course with  the  poor  that  the  religion  of  Christ  is  a 
source  of  more  enjoyment  than  earthly  possessions,  that 
a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  things 
possessed,  but  in  enjoying  sunshine,  air,  water,  sleep, 
digestion,  domestic  affection,  social  intercourse  and  in 
mutual  service,  in  serving  one's  generation  according 
to  the  will  of  God,  and  a  simple  reliance  upon  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  everlasting  life.  Let  it  be  shown 
until  the  restless  striker  shall  see  that  there  is  no  monop- 
oly of  all  the  best  things  and  cannot  be. 

How  many  more  decades  will  poor  human  society  tor- 
ture her  children  before  the  Golden  Rule  so  well  fitted, 
if  obeyed,  to  perfect  all  conditions  of  society,  will  be 
read  and  believed? 

Let  those  with  the  light  lead  the  way. 


LOGGIA  DEI  LANZI— FLOKENCE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


ROME. 


I  must  also  see  Rome.— PawZ. 

From  Florence  to  Rome  is  about  six  hours  on  the  fast 
train ;  I  found  a  good  hotel  near  the  station,  [ind  set 
out  to  see  Rome,  old  and  new,  in  company  with  Dr. 
Tagert,  of  Chicago.  We  started  first  to  St.  Peter's,  the 
largest  church  on  earth.  The  Egyptian  obelisk  seen  in 
front  of  the  church  is  82  feet  9  inches  high,  and  is  said 
to  be  the  only  ancient  monument  in  Rome  that  has  not 
been  overthrown.  The  entire  outlay  for  columns,  foun- 
tains, buttresses,  statues  of  saints,  of  which  there  are 
162,  with  the  pavement  in  front  of  the  church  was  over 
$1,000,000. 

Before  the  end  of  the  17th  century  this  church  had 
■cost  $50,000,000 ;  the  new  sacristy  cost  8950,000 ;  the 
yearly  expense  is  $37,500;  and  the  church  is  not  yet 
done.  But  one  is  met  on  the  threshold,  in  the  aisles, 
under  the  colonnades  and  on  all  sides  by  filthy  and 
Tagged  beggars,  and  that  in  abundance. 

In  the  gallery  is  a  bronze  statue  of  Hercules,  for 
which  Pope  Pius  IX  gave  Baron  Righetti  268,000,750 
francs,  about  $53,200,150,  and  it  was  impossible  tor  me 
to  separate  the  idea  of  such  extravagance  and  luxury 
from  the  existing  want  and  ignorance  of  the  bulk  of 
the  Romish  church  and  (!atholic  Italy.  It  is  but  one  of 
many   thousands   of  the   statues,   paintings  and  relics 


53 

that  crowd  the  galleries  and  museums  of  the  Vaticaru 
palace,  purchased  at  enormous  prices. 

Rafael  and  Angelo  gave  all  their  genius  to  the  church- 
Not  only  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  but  the  Sistine  chapel 
belongs  to  the  latter,  and  the  Loggia  and  St  mza  of  the 
Vatican  to  the  former,  with  thousands  of  feet  of  canvas 
besides.  I  saw  no  picture  anywhere  more  eloquent 
than  Rafael's  Transfiguration.  The  Church  of  Rome 
honored  her  sons,  as  she  still  makes  immortal  the  writer 
of  fiction  who  knows  how  to  weave  in  his  web  some 
threads  of  which  Nun's  veils  are  made.  It  is  a  source 
of  comfort  to  belong  to  a  church  that  has  not  turned 
aside  from  constantly  proclaiming  God's  will  to  exhaust 
its  vitality  upon  political  schemes  and  its  resources  in 
gorgeous  mausoleums  above  its  fallen  leaders. 

From  the  Vatican  we  visited  the  tomb  of  Tasso,  and 
were  shown  his  chairs,  table,  desk  and  the  leaden  coffin 
in  which  he  was  said  to  have  rested  for  three  hundred 
years,  (this  we  doubted  as  it  seemed  too  small.) 

We  concluded  the  day  with  a  visit  to  Piazza  Pincio,  and 
a  visit  to  the  Colosseum  by  moonlight.  I  have  visited 
the  Colosseum  four  or  five  times  and  the  grandeur  of  the 
the  structure  grows  on  one  at  every  visit.  But  looking 
at  this  amphitheatre  of  Vespasian,  there  is  no  good 
ground  now  for  the  lines  so  often  quoted  by  tourists  : 

"While  stands  the  Colosseum,  Rome  shall  stand 

When  falls  the  Colosseum  Rome  shall  fall, 

And  when  Rome  falls,  with  it  shall  fall  the  world." 

For  all  the  might}^  group  that  cluster  about  the  Forum 
speak  from  their  desolation,  and  speak  loudly  that  all. 
the  unhallowed  toil  of  man  shall  perish. 

If  one  could  describe  how  entire  the  ruin  here  how 


55 

great  the  change,  it  would  be  difficult  to  gain  the 
credence  of  the  reader  and  impossible  to  give  any  ade- 
quate conception  of  it.  Standing  on  the  brow  of  the 
Capitoline  hill  and  looking  South-east  what  an  array  of 
fallen  greatness  rises  before  the  eye!  To  the  South  is  the 
Palatine  hill,  with  ruins  of  the  palaces  of  the  Ca3sars,  at 
our  feet  stands  the  column  of  Septimus  Severus  over 
the  Via  Sacra,  the  column  of  Phocas  the  tyrant,  Byron's 
^'nameless  column  without  a  base,"  (that  being  buried 
when  he  wrote  his  poem.)  Here  are  remains  of  the 
Temple  of  Concord,  Temple  of  Vespasian,  Portions,  Tem- 
ple of  Saturn,  Rostra,  Senate  House,  where  "Great 
Caesar  fell,"  Forum  Romanorum,  Temple  of  Castor  and 
Pollux,  Rostra  Julia,  Temple  of  the  Vestal  Virgin,  Tem- 
ple of  Julius  Csesar,  Temple  of  Antoninus  and  Faustinae, 
Temple  of  Rome  and  of  Venus,  Arch  of  Titus,  Arch  of 
Constantino  and  the  Colosseum  all  are  open  to  the  eye 
at  a  glance.  Of  the  hundreds  of  columns  which  once 
supported  fretted  frieze  and  cornice  of  marble,  porphyr}^ 
lapislazuli  or  giallo  antico  or  bronze  scarcely  one  re- 
mains intact;  one  sees  granite  and  marble  columns  four 
and  five  feet  in  diameter  broken  up  into  sections  of  every 
length  from  one  foot  to  twenty.  I  cannot  conjecture  how 
the  iconoclast  performed  his  task  so  thoroughly,  but  it  is 
done,  was  it  of  God  ? 

In  one  minutes  walk  of  the  Forum  is  the  Mamartine, 
traditional,  prison  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  you  are 
shown  the  indenture  made  by  Peter's  head  in  the  stone, 
the  spring  of  miraculous  origin,  at  which  they  baptised 
converts,  the  stone  pillar  to  which  they  were  chained, 
&c.  It  was  in  this  same  subterranean  vault  that  Catiline 
was  strangled,  there  is  a  passage  leading  under  ground 
from  it  to  the  Forum. 


56 

Of  course  I  visited  the  churches  that  contamthe  head 
of  St.  Matthew  and  the  teeth  and  fingers  of  Sts.  Paul 
and  Peter,  the  stone  that  shows  the  foot-prints  of  the 
Saviour,  Peter's  bones  and  table  and  Paul's  house  in  the 
church  of  St.  Sebastian,  the  Scala  Sancta,  where  several 
monks  were  ascending  on  their  knees  as  Martin  Luther 
was  doing  when  the  truth  illuminated  his  soul.  Our 
readers  will  remember  these  are  called  sacred  because  it 
is  claimed  that  they  are  the  steps  on  which  Jesus  as- 
cended to  Pilate's  judgment  hall,  they  are  marble,  cov- 
ered partially  with  w-ood  and  are  twenty-eight  in  num- 
ber. 

There  are  many  hundreds  of  Catholic  priests  here ; 
they  all  w^ear  long  robes  or  frocks,  much  like  female 
attire,  except  the  binding  at  the  waist ;  some  of  them 
go  barefoot,  except  sandals  ;  some  wear  ropes  around 
their  waists,  and  all  look  serious.  Hundreds  of  them 
are  young  theologues.  Rome  is  papal.  The  spirit  of 
Christianity  has  modified  the  current  of  civilization 
here  chiefly  from  without,  I  think.  The  refined  self- 
ishness of  other  days,  the  bloody  a3stheticism  that  could 
bind  Prometheus  to  the  rock,  if  forsooth  the  last  shadow 
borne  to  the  visage  from  the  expiring  soul  might  be 
transmuted  to  canvass,  expresses  itself  now  otherwise. 
If  a  dominant  animalism  found  expression  in  Templum 
Veneris  and  the  Thermae  of  Caracalla,  and  if  the  Colos- 
seum and  its  myriads  of  victims,  savage  and  human, 
rej^resented  the  tragedic,  and  Rome  in  flames  the  me- 
lodramatic Romans  of  other  years,  there  is  now  the 
anomaly  of  a  Christian  nation,  the  mother  of  the  rest, 
with  resources  in  the  ends  of  the  earth,  literally  giving 
her  children  stones  (to  gaze  at),  when  they  ask  for 
bread,  and  contrary  to  the  expectation  of  the  Book  she 


57 

holds  in  her  hand,  minimizes  life's  necessities  hy  turn- 
ing plow-shares  into  swords. 

During  our  stay  a  revolt  was  threatened.  The  people, 
exasperated,  hungry  and  restless,  determined  to  change 
affairs  from  statu  quo.  The  mob  created  quite  an  ex- 
citement, by  breaking  out  some  windows  and  threat- 
ening further  mischief;  but  the  military  being  on  hand 
all  soon  became  quiet,  and  many  of  the  insurgents  were 
shipped  to  the  country. 

The  dazzling  splendor  of  kings,  the  pageantry  of 
power,  as  set  forth  in  the  world's  cumulating  history, 
represent  much  oppression,  much  blood  and  tissue 
vainly  consumed,  the  counterpart  exhibits  rags  for 
robes,  ignorance  and  ignominy,  instead  of  knowledge 
and  glory. 

The  factors  whence  these  antipodal  extremes  have 
sprung  are  abuse  of  official  prerogative  above  and  mis- 
use of  God-given  prerogative  and  endowment  below. 

A  notice  posted  in  every  museum,  palace,  gallery  or 
garden  forbids,  in  four  languages,  the  giving  of  gratui- 
ties, but  we  have  found  only  one  who  refused;  the  fact 
is,  many  of  these  bankrupt  lords  are  supported  by  these 
same  gratuities.  Sometimes  the  keeper  gets  more  than 
he  exj^ects  and  thanks  profusely :  again,  receiving  less 
he  looks  grum.  The  common  people  have  become  so 
used  to  servility  and  meniality  that  they  seem  to  have 
no  conception  of  self-respect,  and  a  gentleman  dressed 
like  a  lord  will  take  a  soldi,  one  cent,  and  thank  you  as 
if  it  were  a  dollar.  We  hired  a  carriage  to  take  us  to  the 
Catacombs  of  St.  Calistus,  on  the  Appian  way,  one  and  a 
half  miles  from  the  city,  our  guide  contracted  with  us 
for  two  liras  but  required  three  at  settling  time,  we  j^aid 
him,  but  took  his  number  and  left  him ;  he  soon  came 


58 

running  after  us,  to  pay  back  what  was  due  us  :  On  the 
way  we  visited  the  church  of  San  Sebastiano,  said  to  con- 
tain the  impress  of  Jesus'  foot  when  he  met  Peter  about 
to  fly  from  martyrdom.  Peter  said,  Doniine  quo  vadisf 
Whither  goest  thou?  Jesus  replied,  "To  Rome  to  be 
crucified  again."  Peter  turned  back.  The  semblance  of 
of  a  track  is  shown,  also  St.  Sebastian's  body  in  stone 
stuck  full  of  arrows. 

This  church  is  at  the  entrance  to  the  Catacombs  of  the 
same  name,  but  as  they  are  all  alike  we  only  visited  one. 
These  subterranean  passages  are  said  to  aggregate  five 
hundred  miles,  cut  through  tufa  stone  about  thirty 
inches  wide,  they  have  receptacles  on  either  side  for  re- 
ceiving the  dead,  one  recess  above  another  like  shelves 
in  a  store;  often  all  that  is  left  of  the  corpse  is  a  white 
streak  in  the  dust  where  the  last  bone  mouldered  back 
to  the  earth  whence  it  sprung.  These  corridors  often 
intersect  one  another,  and  occasionally  open  suddenly 
into  an  underground  chapel  where  the  early  Christians 
used  to  worship,  when  Rome  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Caesars. 

The  author  of  Ben  Hur  says  they  were  constructed 
with  Ben  Hur's  gold,  as  an  asylum  for  persecuted 
Christians,  and  some  think  they  used  it  as  a  cemetery 
to  prevent  cremation.  No  guide  will  touch  one  of  these 
bones  on  pain  of  excommunication. 

St.  Peters  looks  magnificent  from  the  grounds. 


NAPLES,  BAY,  VESUVIUS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


NAPLES.— ''WANTON  BEAUTY: 


Naples  is  renowned  for  its  close  relations  to  Hercu- 
laneum  and  Pompeii  rather  than  for  its  own  achieve- 
ments. Its  population  in  1885,  was  considerably  over 
half  a  million.  While  there  are  other  characteristics 
peculiarly  Neapolitan,  observable  in  the  priests,  mer- 
chants and  merchandise,  artisans  and  the  humblest 
citizens,  there  are  fewer  large  and  princely  palaces. 
While  they  have  some  very  elegant  squares  and  foun- 
tains, they  are  very  limited  in  number.  They  have 
excellent  street  cars  and  a  carriage  any  moment  to  take 
one  to  any  part  of  the  city  for  una  lira  (20  cents.)  Like 
all  the  cities  we  have  visited,  they  seem  to  have  excel- 
lent police   regulations.      But  the  beggars   are   legion; 


60 

some  of  our  party  have  suggested  that  if  you  look  at 
many  of  them  they  expect  a  gratuity.  They  are  brought 
up  to  it  from  childhood. 

Sometimes  in  a  very  thickl}^  settled  part  of  the  city  a 
dozen  children  will  beset  one,  crying  ^^signor!  signor! 
datemi  soldi!  datemi  soldiP''  (give  me  a  cent)  ;  the  philo- 
sophy of  their  conduct  is  this,  if  they  get  something,  it 
is  so  much  made ;  if  not,  nothing  is  lost,  and  this  dis- 
position to  beg  grows  with  their  growth.  There  are 
quite  a  number  of  merchants  here  who  have  a  sign, 
prezzofissi,  price  fixed  ;  many  others  who  will  sell  you  a 
piece  of  goods  for  one  lii^a,  tie  it  up  and  declare  it  is  two 
liras.  Only  to-day  we  took  luncheon  at  a  restaurant, 
inquired  the  price  of  coffee  before  ordering,  was  told  so 
much,  when  we  were  ready  to  settle  it  was  double.  An 
incident  which  occurred  one  day  in  a  restaurant  whither 
we  had  gone  for  coffee,  illustrates  one  or  two  phases  of 
Italian  city  life.  Hotels  sometimes  give  their  guests 
only  lodging,  sometimes  breakfast,  and  sometimes  all 
three  meals.  We  were  at  one  of  the  former  kind,  to 
which  the  restaurant  mentioned  was  attached.  We  had 
called  for  coffe  lotte,  coffee  with  milk,  and  knew  not  why 
we  had  to  wait  so  long,  until  an  Italian  came  in  with  a 
large  female  goat,  which  had  no  sooner  stopped  than  he 
stooped  down  behind  the  faithful  nannie  and  began  to 
fill  a  very  small  mouthed  bottle  with  milk,  for  which 
our  host  paid  him  three  cents,  and  for  a  spoonful  of 
which  put  into  our  coffee  we  had  each  to  pay  him  three 
cents  extra.  They  often  carry  a  bag  of  water  in  the 
sleeve  to  empty  in  the  vessel  of  milk,  a  sly  cheat. 

We  have  a  few  times  step'ped  into  their  shops  or  stores 
and  priced  articles  as  if  we  purposed  buying ;  often  we 
were  asked  three,  four  and  five  times  what  we  could 


61 

really  purchase  for.  The}^  do  not  read  as  the  Floren- 
tines and  Romans,  nor  is  much  no^v  doing  for  education 
in  general. 

Were  the  travel  to  Naples  to  stop  entirely  for  two 
years  there  would  be  fearful  suffering,  I  believe.  The 
Enghsh,  French,  Germans  and  Americans  drop  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  here  yearly. 

Italy  has  produced  some  of  the  first  musicians,  poets, 
painters,  architects,  and  sculptors.  She  possesses  one 
of  the  most  delightful  of  climates.  Naples  has  the  finest 
of  the  bays.  "See  Naples  and  die."  All  these  are  the 
heritage  of  those  now  living  there  and  holding  in  fee 
simple  their  lawful  patrimony.  They  have  preserved  in 
a  praiseworthy  manner  the  works  of  art  left  to  them,  as 
the  safest  and  never-failing  source  of  revenue.  What 
the  nation  claims  as  reward  for  its  care  is  not  excessive, 
but  every  native  feels  the  patrimony  to  be  his  individu- 
ally, and  would  fain  be  enjoying,  while  you  are  passing 
through,  the  portion  of  the  bounty  that  falls  to  him. 

Land'rents  near  about  Naples  for  820  to  $30  yearly, 
and  house-rent  is  pretty  high  ;  good  living  is  high,  but 
the  poor  live  very  cheap.  Macaroni  seems  to  be  the 
chief  staple  of  support,  and  it  is  made  here  by  th'i  car- 
load. 

The  first  day  of  our  stay  we  visited  the  National  Mu- 
seum, admission  one  franc  (20  cents),  catalogue  forty 
cents.  The  contents  are  about  as  follows:  Mural  paint- 
ings from  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii ;  the  finest  collec- 
tion of  bronzes  in  the  world;  marble  sculptures  (some 
master  pieces);  inscriptions ;  Egyptian  antiquities  ;  Me- 
diaeval antiquities;  crystals;  bronzes;  ancient  terra- 
cottas; Papyri  from  Herculaneum;  engravings  (seen 
only  by  permission);  Pompeian  relics;  food;  domestic 


63 

utensils  ;  ornaments  ;  coins  ;  vases  ;  picture  gallery  ;  li- 
brary of  200,000  volumes;  4,000  MSS.,  some  of  them 
rare  and  of  great  interest. 

We  visited,  the  second  day,  Pompeii,  which  was  de- 
stroyed A.  D.  79  by  an  eruption  of  Mt.  Vesuvius.  The 
excavation  was  going  on  the  day  we  visited  the  buried 
city,  but  the  principal  part  has  been  exhumed  for  many 
years.     All  enter  by  the  Porta  marina  or  sea-gate,  for  the 


EXHUMED  BODIES. 


sea,  which  is  now  several  furlongs  off,  once  reached 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  city  w^alls,  (admission  forty 
cents),  a  guide  is  furnished  by  the  government.  A  mu- 
seum here  contains  several  plaster  casts  of  human  bodies 
found  in  the  streets  and  houses— giving  a  pretty  fair 
reproduction ;  also  a  dog,  which  makes  almost  a  perfect 
cast.  These  casts  are  made  by  filling  with  soft  plaster 
the  vacuums  found  in  beds  of  cinders,  where  the  wretch- 
es who  perished  with  their  city  lay  till  they  were  en- 


64 

tirely  roasted.     The  plaster  graduall}^  becomes  hard  and 
Temains  a  permanent  heritage. 

The  general  plan  of  the  place  is  about  the  same  as 
that  of  ancient  Rome.  Here  is  the  Forum,  about  it  are 
the  Temples  of  Venus,  Jupiter,  Mercury,  Fortuna,  Basil- 
ica, Pantheon,  and  not  very  far  off  the  circus  and  am- 
phitheatre. One  is  shown  also  the  houses  of  Sallust, 
Tragic  Poet,  C  &  E.  Rufus,  Orpheus,  Lucretius,  Faun, 
<fec.  I  can  easily  believe  this  city  Avas  destroyed  for  its 
wickedness  as  was  Sodom  by  divine  appointment.  It  is 
strange  to  a  visitor  to  see  the  people  now  building  far 
up  on  the  side  of  Vesuvius,  half  way  at  least  from  Pom- 
peii to  the  top.  They  have  two  or  three  cities,  as  large, 
perhaps,  as  either  of  those  overwhelmed  in  the  year  79 
not  over  half  the  distance  from  the  ver}^  crater. 

Leaving  Pompeii  at  11:30  in  company  with  Hon.  E. 
E.  Taft,  of  Vermont,  a  Califbrnian,  and  our  guide,  with 
.•a  horse  and  two  ponies,  we  started  to  ascend  the  Vol- 
cano. Our  route  lay  through  Torre  Annunciata,  a  city 
•of  12,000  inhabitants.  Mr.  Taft  had  a  turn  for  fun,  and 
jnounted  on  a  good  horse,  he  put  out  at  full  speed 
through  the  town,  to  the  consternation  of  everybody  on 
the  streets.  Our  guide,  divining  his  intentions,  seized 
Tthe  horse's  tail  as  if  to  hold  him  back,  it  being  impos- 
sible for  me  and  Mr.  G.,  an  old  gentleman  of  three-score 
and  more,  on  our  ponies  to  do  more  than  keep  in  sight  of 
our  illustrious  leader,  who  went  careering  around  the 
street  corners,  much,  I  imagine,  like  Mazeppa  in  his  ex- 
'Cursion  from  "Bangor  to  the  dismal  swamp."  Our  little 
•steeds  fairly  spread  themselves,  but  'twas  of  no  use,  the 
leader  had  the  longest  legs  and  thinnest  flanks,  besides  he 
ivasa  cavalry  horse,  on  the  retired  list  and  had  good  wind. 
I  should  have  expected  that  we  would  all  be  arrested,  for 


65 

riding  at  a  gait  to  endanger  our  own  lives  and  those 
of  persons  on  the  streets,  but  how  could  we  be  arrested? 
What  prospect  would  a  pursuer,  even  on  a  fast  horse, 
have  of  ever  seeing  us  after  the  passing  minute,  and  as 
policemen  do  not  ride,  we  were  safe.  Mr  Taft  bent  on 
fun,  and  we  on  catching  him  and  the  guide,  still  hold- 
ing the  horse's  tail,  and  looking  as  they  swept  around 
the  street-corners  like  small  boys  at  the  end  of  a  whip- 
cracking  game  that  scatters  them  far  and  wide,  flew  on 
at  Gilpin  speed.  It  soon  grew  monotonous  to  the  guide 
and  the  martial  steed  with  his  double  load,  and  we  came 
up  in  time  to  hear  the  guide  say,  as  best  he  could,  for  his 
breath  was  about  gone,  that  if  that  was  the  way  we  pur- 
posed going  he  would  let  us  go  on  without  him.  I  was 
sorry  for  him,  but  had  not  got  near  enough  to  be  heard 
before. 

It  ill  became  the  dignity  of  a  State  Senator,  a  sexag- 
enarian and  a  Methodist  preacher  on  their  first  visit  to 
a  town  so  to  astonish  the  natives  as  to  call  all  the  peoj^le 
from  their  dwellings  into  the  streets,  and  have  them  to 
follow  us  as  long  as  they  could  see  us,  some  laughing  at 
the  fun  of  the  thing,  others  terrified,  not  knowing  what 
was  about  to  happen.  If  we  had  been  coming  from  the 
mountain  instead  of  going  to  it,  and  the  air  had  been 
filled  with  smoke  and  thunder,  and  the  earth  with 
trembling  from  the  restless  monster  as  on  that  fatal  day 
in  79,  our  conduct  would  have  been  appropriate,  but 
under  no  other  circumstances.  But  all  is  well  that  ends 
well,  and  we  take  it  more  leisurely  as  we  begin  the  as- 
cent in  the  suburbs  of  the  town.  Still  the  guide  and  the 
looj  sent  to  hold  our  horses,  hold  on  to  the  horses'  tails 
all  the  way  up  to  the  hitching  place.  This  a  great  help 
to  one  walking  up  hill,  I  afterwards  tried  it  myself.  Leav- 


66 

ingtown,  we  enter  a  vineyard  two  miles  wide,  pass  a  few 
scrubby  pines,  about  large  enough  for  walking  canes, 
and  vegetation  ceases. 

The  soil  is  about  the  color  of  black  lead,  with  a  brown- 
ish hue.  The  surface  of  the  ground  for  the  first  few 
miles  is  covered  chiefly  with  gravels  about  the  size  of 


ho:n".  elihu  b.  taft. 


peas.  We  ride  to  within  one  and  a  half  or  two  miles  of 
the  crater,  where  a  bo}"  holds  the  horses,  and  men  who 
met  us  returned  to  assist  us  in  climbing  up.  The  horses 
and  guide  and  boy  cost  seven  francs  for  each  person  ;  if 
you  take  a  man  to  help  pull  you  up  from  the  place  of 
dismounting,  it  costs  4  francs  more  ;  if  you  take  a  cane 
it  costs  1  franc    more.     ^Ir.    Taft   was    heavy  and  took 


help.  ^Ir.  G.  and  I  did  as  well  without.  After  going- 
to  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  top,  we  found  hot 
stones  that  had  just  rolled  down,  and  every  few  steps 
more  stones  and  hotter;  presently  they  were  red  hot ;  a 
hundred  yards  further  and  we  saw  one  roll  down  as 
large  as  a  barrel.  We  sat  down  to  rest,  and  down  came 
one,  red  hot,  rolling  down  an  angle  of  forty -five  degrees, 
going  at  the  rate  of  several  miles  a  minute,  and  another ; 
we  could  see  them  in  time  to  dodge  from  their  path 
Now  we  kej^t  on  a  ridge  of  them  some  ten  feet  higher 
than  the  track  down  which  they  were  tumbling,  and 
which  seemed  to  be  a  kind  of  highway  for  them  ;  soon 
we  came  to  a  sluice  of  red  hot  lava,  twenty  feet  wide 
and  several  feet  deep,  running  down  like  thick  molasses. 
We  could  not  go  nearer  than  within  ten  feet  of  it,  too 
intense  was  the  heat.  Our  guide  offered  to  imbed  a 
penny  in  a  molten  piece  for  a  franc.  Mr.  Taft  had  him 
to  put  two  pennies  in  two  pieces.  He  did  so,  but  it  was 
unsatisfactory,  the  impression  of  the  coin  being  so 
vague.  I  got  one  of  them,  however,  as  a  souvenir  of 
our  meeting  and  Vesuvius. 

The  fumes  of  sulphur  and  gases  well  nigh  stifled  us, 
and  so  dense  was  the  smoke  that  all  stopped  short  of 
the  entire  journey  save  myself  and  guide,  who  protested 
against  going  further,  but  not  expecting  to  come  this 
way  again  right  away  and  being  so  near,  I  was  deter- 
mined to  look  down  the  throat  of  this  heaving,  stewing 
thundering  monster.  On  the  summit  one  feels  the 
mountain  tremble  like  an  old  mill  when  it  is  grinding. 
So  the  guide,  fearful  of  losing  his  position  and  gratuities,, 
went  with  me  to  the  top,  and  my  ambition  was  satisfied. 
I  felt  it  to  be  risking  my  life,  and  my  stay  was  short ; 
you  see  where  a  whole  mountain  has  fallen  in,  to  fill  the 


68 

Tacuum  made  perhaps  when  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum 
were  buried  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  thousands  and 
millions  of  tons  since  belched  forth,  have  left  an  im- 
mense cavity,  which  may  cause  a  falling  in  of  the  sides 
at  any  time.  I  hurried  back  through  smoke  and  foetid 
gases,  sometimes  almost  suffocated  and  every  moment 
fearful  of  being  overtaken  by  a  block  of  heaved-out  lava. 
It  was  very  disagreeable  on  account  of  the  snow,  some 
of  which  was  melted  and  made  with  the  pebbles  and 
ashes  a  muddy  track.  It  was  smooth,  however,  and  in 
a  short  time  w^e  were  on  our  steeds  again.  As  no  one 
has  given  me  any  adequate  idea  of  this  volcano,  so  I  do 
not  hope  to  do  better  for  others.  Long  ridges  of  scoria, 
several  hundred  yards  in  length,  sometimes  twenty  feet 
Iiigh  and  from  twenty  feet  to  one  hundred  feet  wide, 
seem  to  have  been  placed  artificially  and  but  yesterday. 
They  are  of  many  colors  mingled,  from  the  black  slag  to 
the  dura  petra  nearly  white.  On  the  South  side  the  moun- 
tain has  kept  active  so  long,  sending  out  matter  which 
hardens  often  near  the  summit  until  it  is  very  high  and 
sharp,  the  ascent  for  the  last  several  minutes  being  about 
4o°.  From  Naples  one  sees  clouds  of  smoke  ascending 
from  the  crater  during  the  day,  and  at  night  flames  of 
fire  are  ever  shooting  up  as  if  from  some  distant  burn- 
ing building. 

The  animals  we  rode  were  very  diminutive  as  are 
nearly  all  the  equine  species  seen  in  Italy.  Mr.  G.  who 
is  an  elderly  gentleman  started  with  Beefsteak  but  not 
liking  his  qualities  offered  to  swap  with  me.  Of  course 
I  accommodated  him  ;  but  after  trying  Macaroni,  he 
concluded  he  had  cheated  himself  and  wished  to  trade 
back  and  we  traded  again.  He  then  thought  he  was 
-cheated  again  but  determined  to  take  vengeance  out  on 


G9 

Beefsteak  by  whipping  him.  The  animal  was  so  short 
he  struck  clear  by  and  missed  the  object  of  his  ire  every 
time.  He  then  contented  himself  by  abusing  the 
Italians. 

We  left  next  day  for  Brindisi,  the  ancient  Brundusium 
of  the  Romans,  whence  we  sailed  to  Alexandria.  Brin- 
disi has  nothing  of  special  interest  except  its  name, 
which  means  the  antlers  of  a  stag,  the  promontories 
that  jut  out  into  the  water  there  being  in  appearance 
very  much  like  a  stag's  horns,  and  the  pillars  that  stand 
there  to  mark  the  terminus  of  the  Appian  Way  paved 
from  Rome  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Only  one  of 
these,  however,  is  left  now,  the  other  having  been  thrown 
down  by  an  earthquake. 

On  the  way  to  Brindisi  we  passed  Bari  where  St. 
Nicholas  is  buried  and  where  the  pious  Greeks  of  Rus- 
sia go  yearly  to  buy  a  bottle  of  precious  snow  water 
which  is  thought  to  have  miraculous  medicinal  proper- 
ties. This  is  specially  holy  in  their  esteem  and  some- 
times sells  at  fabulous  prices.  We  went  down  the 
Adriatic  coast  and  in  sight  of  Greece. 

There  are  seven  clergymen  aboard  the  steamship 
Cathay,  of  the  P.  and  O.  (Peninsular  and  Oriental) 
line,  of  whom  four  are  Presbyterians,  one  a  Bajjtist,  one 
an  Episcopalian,  and  myself,  a  Methodist.  Two  of  them 
are  missionaries,  one  representing  the  Christian  Guild,  of 
Scotland  the  other  the  church  of  England* 

From  Brindisi  to  Alexandria  is  900  to  1000  miles  and 
requires  three  days  and  nights  to  complete  the  voyage. 
Our  captain  said  he  had  never  seen  higher  winds.  The 
storm  that  wrecked  the  steamers  at  Samoa  came  our 
way. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


EGYPT. 


Who  can  adequately  describe  landing  amongst  Arabs? 
The}^  throng  about  the  gangway  ere  it  connects  the  ship 
to  the  wharf,  precisely  as  hungry  hogs  do  about  the 
trough  where  swill  is  emptied,  nor  can  two  or  three 
policemen  arrest  or  check  their  persistence.  They  cry 
their  good  qualities  and  crowd  one  another,  pushing  and 
beating  opponents  until  a  stranger  is  surprised  that 
many  are  not  killed  every  day.  "When  the  gangway  is 
secured  they  overrun  the  vessel's  deck,  thrusting  their 
heads  under  one's  hat  brim,  yelling  in  English, 
French  or  German,  as  the  case  demands,  for  your 
patronage.  So  much  is  paid  them  for  every  customer 
got  into  a  carriage  or  hotel,  besides  baksheesh  for  hand- 
ling baggage.  One  is  impressed  at  the  abundance  of 
the  survival  of  the  unfittest. 

We  landed  at  Alexandria  about  8  o'clock  Thursday 
morning,  and  taking  a  ride  through  the  city  went  to 
Cairo  the  same  day. 

The  ride  up  the  Nile  was  the  most  interesting  of  my 
life.  While  the  objects  along  the  way  were  not  just 
such  as  I  had  expected,  they  were  not  below  expecta- 
tion. The  railroad  crosses  the  Rosetta  and  Damietta, 
arms  of  the  river,  and  several  canals,  while  every  spot 
of  ground  is  covered  with  the  rankest  herbage.  The 
soil  is  a  dark  brown,  almost  black,  loam.     This  deposit 


72 

of  the  Nile  is  30  to  60  feet  deep.  Its  capacity  to  pro- 
duce is  limited  only  by  the  time  required  for  plant 
maturity  and  irrigation.  Along  the  road  are  hundreds 
of  towns  made  of  sundried  brick — not  a  single  one  made 
of  timber.  We  passed  many  thousands  of  Arabs  on 
the  road,  most  of  whom  were  riding  donkeys ;  these  are 
very  diminutive,  being  only  3  J  tc  4^  feet  high,  yet  I 
often  saw  two  men  on  one  donkey.  They  sit  so  far  back 
on  him  that  the  only  chance  for  the  second  man  is  to 
get  before ;  you  canH  ride  behii  d  one  of  these  men  on  a 
donkey.     A  great  many  camels  are  used  also. 

The  first  things  that  impress  a  stranger  in  the  towns  are 
the  dress  of  the  people,  their  want  of  decency,  and  their 
commercial  habits.  Often  one  can  only  tell  a  male  from 
a  female  by  the  beard  and  a  veil  worn  by  females  over 
the  nose.  Married  women  also  wear  a  stick  or  brass 
tube,  about  like  a  number  12  cartridge,  between  the 
eyes — thus  the  face  is  entirely  concealed,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  eyes,  and  the  hollow  tube  admits  fresh  air 
for  respiration. 

Their  stores  are  only  a  fe^v  feet  deep,  and  sometimes 
all  their  goods  are  on  the  floor,  even  when  their  stock 
is  bread,  and  the  floor  is  often  mother  earth.  They  sit 
oftea  on  the  ground  seemingly  indifferent  to  customers, 
smoking  pipes  that  will  hold  a  whole  package  of  Dur- 
ham smoking  tobacco.  They  all  smoke,  and  nearly  all 
gamble,  just  where  they  sit  to  trade. 

Alexandria  and  Cairo  have  many  water  carriers ;  the 
men  sell,  the  women  donate.  The  men  carry  it  in 
large  skins — goat  skins — holding  about  10  or  12  gallons, 
price  about  five  cents  per  gallon  of  filtered  Nile  water> 
which  is  very  good ;  they  cry  as  they  go,  miyeh  !  tiyeb 
miyeh!  water!  gDod  water!    Powdered  almonds  is  said 


73 

to  be  put  into  the  slightly  muddy  water,  precipitating 
the  argillaceous  and  other  substances,  leaving  it  pure 
and  sweet.  I  need  not  remark  upon  the  excessive 
filthmess  of  these  people  when  it  is  remembered  that  it 
seldom  rains  here-about  eight  inches  a  year  at  Alexan- 


TAKING   A   DRINK   OF   WATER. 


dna  less  than  two  in  Cairo,  and  none  further  south 
one  has  an  idea  of  the  dust  that  is  made  by  the  travef 
of  thousands  of  donkeys  and  camels,  cows,  goats  and 
heep  daily  over  the  highways.  It  is  very  hot ;  a  little 
tod  fills  one  wuh  perspiration,  they  go  into  the  canal 
with  their  beasts,  and  all  lave  together,  after  which  they 


74 

fill  their  water  jji'i's.  You  can  see  fleas  crawling  about 
upon  them ;  often' "one  sees  a  dozen  flies  in  their  eyes ; 
many  of  them  are  half  clad,  man}^  entirely  nude.  It  is 
said  there  is  either  a  cow,  camel,  goat  or  donkey  for 
ever}^  acre  of  land  in  the  Delta,  and  a  person  for  every 
animal.  I  believe  the  true  estimate  puts  one  person  for 
every  two  acres  of  -^and. 

I  suppose  they  irrigate  their  land  muchas  they  did 
Ave  or  six  thousand  years  ago,  or  earlier^'^for  I  cannot 
think  of  anything  more  primitive.     The\  raise  it  by  a 


■| 


SAKIEH    FOR    RAISIXG   Ys'ATER. 

.system  of  sweeps,  like  our  sweep-wells,  only  shorter 
levers  are  used  ;  sometimes  four  sets  are  required  to 
raise  the  water  20  or  25  feet  high,  each  set  lifting  a  basket 
full  (flag  baskets)  five  or  six  feet  high,  where  it  is 
emptied  into  a  large  cavity  in  the  bank  and  again  carried 
up.  They  call  these  shadoofs.  Another  way  is  to  have 
a  perpendicular  and  horizontal  siuir-wheel  geared  to- 
gether and  turned  by  a  cow  or  camel  blindfold,  or  person. 


This  puts  ill  iiKjticni  an  endless  chain,  with  jars  fastened 
at  proper  intervals  (Sakieh)  ;  they  raise  the  water,  which 
empties  into  a  trough  connecting  with  a  ditch,  and  so  is 
carried  for  miles  over  the  fields,  which  are  level  as  far  as 
the  foot  h'lls.  I  believe  they  are  a  little  lower  at  the  base, 
of  the  hills  than  at  the  margin  of  the  river,  owing  to  the 
greiter  deposit  near  the  stream  during  the  annual 
overflow.  This  facilitates  the  irrigation,  as  the  water 
flows  d)  n  an  inclined  plane  from  the  start.  Small 
dams  are  made  around  little  squares  to  hold  the  water 
until  every  plant  on  the  cultivated  area  is  wet  in  season. 
The  \v;iter  is  turned  into  and  out  of  these  squares  by  the 
bare  foot  of  the  fellah  (farmer.) 

When  one  sees  the  fertility  of  this  valley,  the  sweet- 
ness of  the  Xile  water,  he  is  not  surprised  that  ancient 
Egyptians,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  should 
have  deified  the  stream  to  which  they  seemed  to  owe  all 
their  support,  especially  when  the  manner  of  its  over- 
flowing and  enriching  the  land  annually  without  any 
rains,  so  far  as  they  knew,  was  so  mysterious  and  won- 
derful. 

I  am  told  that  each  farmer  has  to  give  So  per  acre 
yearly  to  the  government  as  tax.  In  some  places  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  yield  are  taken ;  the  government  owns 
the  land  largely;  they  raise  three  and  four  crops  yearly, 
consisting  of  ]>arley,  sugar,  rice,  clover,  beans,  &c.  These 
crops,  however,  are  measurably  affected  by  the  rise  in 
the  Nile.     The  tax  is  levied  according  to  the  same. 

The  Government  often  reports  the  Xile  to  have  reached 
the  normal  height  of  23  or  24  feet  when  it  has  not,  so 
as  toexcuse  a  high  tax.  There  are  raised  large  herds  of 
cattle  and  sheep  for  Alexandria  and  Cairo  markets,  and 
I  judge  other  cities  also. 


76 

The  city  of  Cairo  is  now  the  centre  of  the  world  in 
more  senses  than  one.  It  is  not  only  the  seat  of  the 
Khedive's  dominions  in  the  North  of  Africa,  but  the 
season  is  on,  and  tourists  from  the  Continent,  Great 
Britain  and  America  are  here  in  great  numbers.  I  met 
two  young  gentlemen  of  the  U.  S.  Man  of  War  Essex  (I 
think)  now  on  the  way  home  from  a  tour  round  the 
world,  Mr.  Scales,  of  Greensboro,  N.  C,  and  Mr.  Rus- 
sell, of  ,  N.    C.     There  are  travelers  from  nearly 

every  American  State.  They  have  an  English  quarter,  a 
French  quarter  and  perhaps  a  German  quarter. 

Everything  looks  like  springy;  everybody  seems  happy, 
and  Cairo,  already  numbering  400,000  inhabitants,  keeps 
booming. 

We  visited  the  Citadel,  on  Mt.  Mokattam,  where  the 

finest  panorama  in  all  Egypt  lies  out  before  the  spectator 

from  the  South  side  of  the  Mosque  of  Mahomet  Ali. 

W^e  stood  on  this  terrace  •  for  an  hour  or  two,  studying 

Cairo,  every  part  of  which  is  visible,  with  hundreds  of 

mosques    and  minarets  and   palaces  ;   the  Pyramids  of 

Ghizeh,  eight  miles  to  the  west,  of  Sakarah,  "the  city  of 

the  Tombs,"  15  or  20  miles  to  the  south,  and  Old  Cairo, 

a  few  miles  to  the  south,  enrich  the  landscape  with 

"The  river  gleaming  and  winding  away  from  the  dim  south 
into  the  blue  distance  of  the  north,  the  green  strips  of  cultiva- 
tion on  its  banks  delighting  the  eye  amid  the  yellow  sands." 

There  is  the  arena  where  were  enacted  many  of  those 
tragic  scenes  recorded  in  the  first  two  books  of  the  Bible. 
There  unknown,  obscure  little  Joseph  began  and  devel- 
oped into  a  man  of  wonderful  power,  and  made  himself 
a  home  at  which  he  royally  received  his  father  and  kins- 
folk. Hither  Jacob  came,  with  trembling  step,  for  life, 
as   Abraham,    his  grandfather,    had    done   before,    and 


blessed  Ms  sou's  benefactor  and  beneficiary,  and  his 
children  and  grand-children.  There  toiled  the  subject 
race  for  four  hundred  and  twenty  years.  There  Moses, 
brought  up  in  the  Kiug's  palace  and  educated  yonder  at 
On,  returned  to  work  his  miracles  before  the  King.  Yes, 
that  river  was  once  blood.  The  blackness  of  those 
heavens  could  once  be  felt.  Those  streets  were  throno^ed 
by  frogs,  and  swarms  of  flies,  and  other  pests  tormented 
the  wretched  monarch.  0,  the  history  enacted  on  that 
plain  I  Egypt,  thou  wast  the  nurse  of  the  Hebrew  peo- 
ple.    Silent,  mysterious,  wonderful  land  I 

We  visited  here  the  Mosque,  which  is  of  Ala- 
baster, and  contains  the  body  of  Mahomet  Ali ;  lamps 
are  kept  burning  by  it  all  the  time.  The  floor  is 
covered  with  the  finest  Persian  carpets  and  rugs,  on 
which  the  worshipers  sit  instead  of  on  pews.  It  Avas 
Friday  or  Mahometan  Sabbath,  and  one  solitary  Arab 
sat  cross-legged,  swinging  back  and  forth  aud  rej^eating 
in  a  whining  song  verses  of  the  Koran.  I  think  the 
howlers  instead  of  the  dancers  worship  here.  Christians 
are  not  permitted  to  enter  the  enclosure  after  the  hour  for 
w^orship  to  begin.  Sandals  were  provided  for  visitors, 
for  which  backsheesh  is  required.  We  then  visited  Jo- 
seph's well,  which  is  290  feet  deep,  from  which  pure 
water  is  elevated  by  donkeys  at  the  bottom.  This  well 
is  square  and  15  or  18  feet  in  diameter;  in  the  solid 
stone,  around  the  main  shaft,  a  stairway  leads  to  the 
bottom.  "We  descended  partly  down,  far  enough  to  get  a 
good  idea  of  the  whole.  We  passed  out  by  the  narrow 
defile  in  which  Mahomet  Ali  had  450  Mamelukes,  with 
their  leader,  Ibrahim  Bey,  killed  in  1811,  for  fear  of 
their  revolutionary  plans ;  800  more  were  killed  in  the 
city.     Emin  Bey  escaped  by  leaping  his  horse  over  the 


79 

battlement.  His  horse  Avas  crushed  to  death,  but  he 
escaped.  The  eastern  terrace,  100  feet  high,  from  which 
he  leaped,  is  called  La  Sav.t  da  Mameli(ke.  The  fact  of 
the  leaping-  is  questioned. 

We  rode  out  to  Cheops,  4,060  years  old,  and  the 
Sphinx,  140  faf^t  long,  plus  50  feet  for  the  paws ;  the 
head  is  over  100  feet  in  circumference  and  the  body  40 
feet  in  diameter.  We  ascend  Cheops  alone,  without 
help,  (this  is  quite  a  triumph)  especially  when  ha- 
rangued by  a  dozen  Arabs  before  and  behind,  and  all 
around;  the  usual  method  of  ascent  is  for  two  Arabs  to 
precede  and  pull  while  a  third  from  the  rear  pushes  up 
the  climber. 

They  try  to  alarm  the  novice  by  pointing  out  many 
dangers  to  w^hich  he  is  exposing  himself,  saying : 

"American  no  find  way.  Hawaji  (Mr.)  head  swim. 
Hawaji  fall,  get  killed." 

And  the  ascent  is  perilous  to  one  without  a  steady 
nerve.  Reaching  the  top  when  my  companion  was 
scarcely  half  way  up  I  began  to  muse  : 

This  is  Cheops,  built  some  think  for  the  habitation  of 
a  single  corpse,  whose  reign  had  been  so  oppressive  that 
his  body  had  to  be  conveyed  away  secretly,  and  his 
name  never  called  by  his  subjects,  fulfilled  the  words  of 
truth,  ''the  name  of  the  wicked  shall  rot."  What  varied 
scenes  have  been  enacted  here,  when  this  pillar  was 
being  erected,  of  toiling  serfs  and  cruel  taskmasters, 
making  the  world  great  and  miserable  !  the  leeks,  rad- 
ishes and  onions  consumed  by  the  workmen  aggregated 
$1,700,000.  What  a  celebration  when  the  "chief  corner 
stone"  (the  apex)  was  laid!  What  a  history  has  been 
made  beneath  its  shadjw,  what  untold  thousands  of 
Egypt's  sons  have  passed  by  with  gallant  tread,  going  to 


80 

foreign  wars  against  the  mighty  Cheta  under  Rameses 
and  Thothmes  (Napoleon  of  Egypt),  some  to  bring  many 
•captives  home,  more  whose  blood  enriched  the  enemies, 
lands.  What  unnumbered  hosts  have  marched  hither 
to  return  no  more.  Just  there  Napoleon  concentrated  an 
•oration  into  one  phrase  :  "  Sons  of  France  forty  centuries 
dook  down  on  you!" 

What  a  strange  place  is  this !  To  the  west  is  endless 
^eath,  the  desert  sands,  bro:vn  and  red,  interminable, 
say,  "Leave  hope  behind  who  enter  here  !"  To  the  east 
the  fertile  and  happy  valley  with  the  smiling  Nile  seem 
^s  contented  and  peacelul  as  if  there  were  no  death,  and 

"backsheesh  Hawadji !"  "America  give   good  back 

rsheesh!"  "Give  New  York  back  sheesh,"  "Give  Yankee- 
doodle  back  sheesh  !"  "Give  it !  give  it!"  "Howadji  buy 
mummy!  genuine  antique !  worth  6  shillings,"  (about 
the  size  of  a  man's  finger,  a  poor  imitation  of  a  mummy 
■case).  "It  is  not  genuine,  I  fear,"  said  I.  "Genuine 
antique,  Howadji,  give  it  fou-  shilhngs."  "Too  much," 
€aid  I.  "How  much  you  give  it?"  "I  will  give  you  a 
piaster  (4  cents)  for  a  pair  of  them,"  said  I  hoping  to 
disgust,  and  get  rid  of  their  pertinacity.  "Well,  give  it, 
give  it."  "No,  I  don't  want  them."  ''Give  it,  give  it." 
•''Miyeh  (water)  Howadji."  "  Tiyeh  miyeh,^'  (good  water). 
"Buy  it,  buy  it!"  and  you  have  to  buy  it.  "AVant  see 
do  Mark  Twain?"  "What  is  that?"  "Arab  go  down 
pyramid,  up  'tother  pyramid  and  back  here  in  fifteen 
minutes  for  one  shilling."  Mark  Twain  said  he  hired 
him  in  hopes  of  seeing  him  break  his  neck,  but  Arab 
triumphed.     They  call  it,  "Doing  Mark  Twain." 

By  this  time  my  friend  had  reached  the  top  exhausted. 
The  summit  is  twenty-four  feet  square,  and  there  are 
blocks  of  stone  on  this  area  four  hundred  and  sixty  odd 
feet  perpendicular  that  weigh  many  tons. 


81 

I  descended,  went  into  the  interior,  into  the  King's 
•and  Queen's  chambers,  both  of  which  have  been  written 
much  about.  I  hesitate  to  say  more  than  that  the  en- 
trance is  fraught  with  the  greatest  danger,  being  by  a 
descent  and  then  an  ascent  over  stones  worn  smooth  as 
glass.  The  king's  chamber,  34  feet  by  17  feet,  and  16 
feet  high,  is  the  most  reverberating  of  any  hall  I  ever 
-entered.  It  contained  a  mutilated,  lidless  sarcophagus 
•or  coffer,  about  whose  purpose  there  is  much  conjecture. 
Some  say  it  is  a  coffin,  some,  a  treasure  chest,  some  say  it 
was  designed  for  a  universal  standard  of  measure  cor- 
responding to  the  laws  of  the  Hebrews,  others  say  it  is 
ihe  pillar  spoken  of  by  Isaiah  19 :  "In  day  that  shall 
there  be  an  altar  to  the  Lord  in  the  midst  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  a  pillar  at  the  border  thereof  to  the  Lord. 
And  it  shall  be  a  for  a  sign  and  a  witness  unto  the  Lord 
of  Hosts  in  the  land  of  Egypt."  As  our  carriage  ap- 
proached the  base  we  noticed  men  on  the  summit  of  the 
pyramid,  and  they  looked  like  toy  men  on  a  mantel. 
This  optical  delusion  was  owing  to  the  great  bulk  of 
matter  just  beneath,  Cheops  covers  nearly  thirteen  acres 
of  land,  and  has  been  computed  to  contain  enough  stone  to 
build  the  city  of  Washington,  D.  C,  government  build- 
ings and  all.  It  is  about  an  hour's  ride  by  carriage  from 
Cairo,  on  the  foot  of  the  Lybian  range  of  hills  bordering 
on  the  Lybian  desert. 

When  we  were  returning  from  the  interior  of  the  pyra- 
mid, my  Arab  guides  stopped  short  before  me  at  the 
critical  turning  from  the  shaft  descending  from  the 
king's  chamber  to  the  shaft  or  tunnel  leading  to  the  well 
SO  feet  below  the  base  of  the  pyramid  and  called  the  bot- 
tomless pit,  at  the  point  K,  (see  cut)  It  is  difficult 
to   get  from   one  to  the   other,  and   perilous   even  with 


83 

good  light,  but  here  they  extinguished  their  candles 
and  mine,  and  I  knew  not  what  was  next,  for  I  had  left 
my  friend  on  top,  who  said  he  did  not  care  to  venture 
within.  A  man  thinks  rapidly  when  unexpected  danger 
suddenly  confronts  him.  So  I.  What  does  it  mean  ? 
There  are  a  hundred  of  them  outside.  What  can  my 
friend  do  alone?  He  was  afraid  to  come  in  with  me, 
much  more  will  he  fear  to  do  so  now ;  besides,  what 
could  he  do  if  he  should  come?  Will  they  kill  me  and 
drop  me  in  the  deep  well  they  showed  me  a  moment 
since,  that  is  just  behind  me  ? 

Thes.e,  with  many  other  apprehensions,  shot  through 
my  mind  like  electricity.  I  had  not  been  in  Egypt  over 
twelve  hours  ;  I  did  not  understand  the  Arabs.  Every- 
thing I  had  seen  of  them  disgusted  me.  I  had  heard 
and  read  of  their  treachery,  but  felt  safe  in  sight  of 
Cairo,  of  English  troops,  with  an  English  gentleman  on 
the  top,  especially  since  I  had  paid  the  f<heik  three  shil- 
lings for  the  privilege  of  penetrating  this  "miracle  in 
stone "  that  was  as  much  mine  as  his.  Every  one  who 
has  traveled  among  the  Arabs  has  anticipated  me,  I 
know,  when  I  tell  them  that  ''backsheesh,  Hoivadji  /"  was 
the  first  sound  that  filled  the  darkness.  Yes,  they 
w^anted  this  job  settled  for  then  and  there.  An  old, 
useless  Arab  had  followed  me  up  the  mountain  down 
again  and  inside,  saying  repeatedly  :  "  I  make  you  satis- 
fied, you  make' me  satisfied."  So  he  yelled  again  and  I 
responded  in  the  vernacular  of  the  place,  "  Yes,  make 
me  satisfied  and  I'll  make  you  satisfied."  I  told  them 
certainly  I  would  give  them  plenty  of  backsheesh — they 
lighted  up  and  in  another  minute  we  stood  from  under. 
And  for  the  first  and  last  time  (though  amongst  them 
for  two   months   afterwards)  satisfied  them  with  back- 


84 

sheesh.  It  was  now  sundown,  but  my  friend,  seeing  me 
i-safe  outside,  determined  to  try  it  himself,  with  an  expe- 
rience similar  to  mine. 

"  This  mighty  structure  stands  immortal  in  its  greatness,  lift- 
ing its  brow  the  nearest  to  heaven  of  all  earthly  works  (1877), 
and  asserting  in  every  feature  something  more  than  human. 
With  all  of  man's  workmanship  that  went  before  it  in  utter 
ruin,  it  stands  only  the  more  readable  from  the  damages 
•of  time,  the  grand  and  indestructible  monument  of  the  true 
-primeval  man.  Upon  its  pedestal  of  rock,  battered  by  the 
buflfetings  of  forty  centuries,  it  stands,  upspringing  like  a  tongue 
•of  fire  kindled  of  God  to  light  the  course  of  time  down  to  its 
final  goal  and  consummation." 

"Old  Time,  himself  so  old,  is  like  a  child, 
And  can't  remember  when  these  blocks  were  piled, 
Or  caverns  scooped  ;  but,  with  amaz'd  eye, 
He  seems  to  pause,  like  other  stand ers-by. 
Half  thinking  how  the  wonders  here  made  known 
Were  born  in  ages  older  than  his  own.'' 

Next  day  we  went  through  many  of  their  bazaars,  in 
which  they  sell  fruits  of  Egypt  and  other  countries — 
>cane,  dates,  oranges,  bread,  eggs,  cheese,  birds,  fish,  etc., 
•etc.  All  manner  of  fabrics  of  cloth,  carpets,  rugs,  etc., 
from  Arabia  and  Persia ;  pipes  and  tobacco  and  cigar- 
•ettes,  boots,  shoes,  slippers  and  fezes,  hardware,  and  flag- 
ware  and  jars  by  the  ten  thousand,  and  everything  else 
almost,  and  all  on  the  ground  in  the  streets  on  a  rug, 
each  man  or  firm  just  having  what  they  can  conveniently 
-take  away  at  night. 


CHAPTER    X. 


FARTHER  UP  THE  NILE. 


I  had  arranged  to  take  the  trip  up  the  Nile  with  Drs.. 
Whigham  and  Black  on  Cook's  steamer,  but  being  a  lit- 
tle careless  about  securing  a  berth,  found  when  I  didl 
make  application  that  all  had  been  taken.  They  wished 
to  register  me  in  Rome  for  this  excursion  at  £50,  also  at 
Naples  for  the  same  price,  but  at  Brindisi  they  offered 
me  a  ticket  for  £25  sterling.  We  went  from  Cairo  over* 
perhaps  the  dustiest  railroad  in  existence,  247  miles  to 
Assiout.  No  water  is  found  on  these  trains  unless  the 
thoughtful  traveler  carries  a  cruse  or  water  jar  holding 
about  one  quart,  which  costs,  jar  and  water,  about  two' 
cents.  At  Assiout  we  took  the  government  postal  steam- 
er and  were  enabled  briefly  to  study  the  country  in  its- 
resources,  its  institutions  and  population. 

We  learned  that  the  Copts,  about  one-eighth  of  the- 
inhabitants,  hold  about  one-fourth  or  more  of  the  offices,., 
they  are  more  competent,  and  being  weak  in  a  military 
sense  are  awake  to  their  interest,  and  try  to  educate 
themselves.  They  hold  nearly  all  the  positions  in  civil 
service,  while  the  military  positions  for  religious  reasons 
are  given  to  Mahometans.  The  Copts  have  only  one 
wife  and  are  all  Christians.  They  never  intermarry 
with  Arabs. 

The  stations  of  the  postal  service  are  all  on  flat-boata 


86 

ancliored  to  the  shore  because  the  banks  and  level  of  the 
water  are  ever  shifting  under  the  annual  overflow  of  the 
Xile.  At  these  stations  hundreds  of  Arabs  gather  on 
the  arrival  of  the  boat  with  cane,  bread,  eggs,  cheese- 
curds,  vegetables,  pigeons,  &c.,  &c.,  to  sell,  sometimes  a 
hundred  crying  their  wares  at  once  until  however  much 
you  want  a  thing,  your  only  chance  to  get  it  is  to  catch 
the  eye  of  the  vender,  who,  calling  the  name  of  the 
goods  he  sells,  says :  "  God  will  lighten  my  load  of 
oranges;"  *^God  will  forgive  thy  sins."  At  the  same 
time  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  are  crying  backsheesh. 

At  Abooteeg  all  others  gave  way  to  an  old  blind  man 
who  yelled  enough  for  a  dozen.  Our  captain  said  his 
words  at  first  meant,  '^Oh,  my  Lord."  This  he  rejoeated 
some  scores  of  times  ;  he  would  then  vary,  and  finally 
appealed  to  our  idea  of  the  ridiculous  by  barking  like  a 
dog — "  bow  I  wow,  wow  I"  so  rapidly  and  with  such 
frantic  gesticulations,  and  leaping  so  as  to  permanently 
monopolize  the  attention  of  all,  and  secure  his  backsheesh. 

At  the  next  station  was  a  blind  boy,  who  appealed  only 
to  the  emotions  and  promise  of  reward  for  benefactions 
he  had  memorized  those  passages  in  the  Koran  suited  to 
his  purpose,  these  he  used  with  great  effect.  The  Arabs 
were  moved  as  by  the  spell  of  elocjuence  and  contributed, 
as  did  also  the  Christians. 

The  valley  of  the  Xile  from  Assiout,  393  miles  from 
Alexandria,  is  between  the  Lybian  hills  on  the  west  and 
Aabian  on  the  east.  They  rise  suddenly  from  the  plains 
500  feet  high,  presenting  a  barren  front  of  limestone  and 
begin  the  deserts  of  the  same  names.  The  valley,  some- 
times 20  miles  wide,  is,  on  an  average,  about  six  or 
seven,  and  all  under  cultivation.  The  river  will  rise 
again  in  four  months  and  in  those  sandbars  left  bare 


now  they  are  planting "  water-wel on  seed.  There  are 
plenty  of.  tomatpes,  peas,  beans,  &c.,  of  this  season's 
growth.  We  saw  '  also  '  water-melons  in  Cairo,  They 
have  harvested  their  sugar  cane,  and  our  captain  says 
one  acre  will  make  tli^ree  barrels  of  sugar.  They  also 
are  harvesting  barley  |\yhich  of  ten  only ,  grows  eighteen 
inches  high  but  as  thick,  a^s  'can  well  stand  on  the 
ground.     Flax  is  maturing.  " 

The  Khedive  owns  many  sugar  factories  along  the 
Nile,  making  the  best  standard  brands,  and  the  price  is 
about  the  same  as  w^ith  us. .  There  are  also  ,very .  large 
jug  and  jar  fcictories  here,  as  all  the  vessels  used  for 
water  are  earthen-ware.  AVe  saw  perhaps  fifty  thousand 
at  Farshoot. 

Our  boat,  the  Akashea,  carried  us,  among  the  most 
unique  scenes  we  had  ever  witnessed.  The  skies  above 
were  cloudless  by  day  and  by  night.  The  sun  shone 
with  intolerable  heat  by  day,  but  when  he  retired  behind 
the  Lybian  hills,  the  evaporation  from  the  Nile  soon 
cooled  the  air,  and  stars  invisible  in  other  lands  sent 
twinkling  rays  down  through  the  translucent  atmos- 
phere. When  it  is  hot  the  buffaloes  come  down  in  the 
river  to  wallow.  The  women  wade  out  to  fill  their  pon- 
derous water  jars,  a  boat  laden  with  jars,  sheep,  wheat 
or  cane  for  market  passes  every  now  and  then,  the  banks 
are  lined  with  men  working  at  the  shadoof,  in  a  state  of 
nudity,  except  the  poorest  excuse  of  a  breech  cloth,  their 
sweeps  creaking  on  the  axle,  as  with  uniform  swing  they 
land  the  life-giving  liquid. 

The  Ibis  religlosa  venerated  as  divine  by  the  ancient 
Egyptians  is  extinct,  but  many  a  flock  of  ducks  evades 
the  hurrying  boat  and  every  town  furnishes  thousands 
of  pigeons. 


On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  we  reach  Thebes — 
our  destination. 

When  we  landed  none  of  the  objects  of  our  visit  were 
in  sight,  although  I  stood  in  the  midst  of  Thebes,  well 
calculated  to  "fascinate,  appall,  stun,  defy  the  imagina- 
tion and  confound  the  reason."  Twas  indeed  "like  en- 
tering a  city  of  the  giants,  who,  after  a  long  contest  had 
all  been  destroyed,  leaving  their  vast  temples  as  the  only- 
proof  of  their  existence."  Her  magnificence  once  justi- 
fied Homer  in  singing : 

"Not  all  proud  Thebes*  unrivalled  walls  contain 
The  world's  great  Empress  on  the  Egyptian  plain 
That  spreads  her  conquest  o'er  a  thousand  states, 
And  pours  her  heroes  through  a  hundred  gates. 
Two  hundred  horsemen  and  two  hundred  cars, 
From  each  wide  portal  issuing  to  the  wars." 

From  Luxor  we  went  to  the  tombs  of  the  kings  and 
the  temples  of  ancient  Thebes,  four  miles  west  of  the 
river.  Twenty-five  of  these  tombs  are  up  a  defile  Bab-el- 
Molouk,  in  the  Lybian  Mountains  about  one  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  plain  and  are  all  near  together ;  they 
are  tunnels  open  at  one  end,  and  descending  sometimes  at 
a  small  angle,  sometimes  very  steep,  and  are  divided  into 
a  great  many  chambers,  the  principal  one  being  for  the 
king's  sarcophagus  and  remains.  One  we  visited,  No.  17, 
of  Sethi  L,  descends  180  feet  below  the  entrance,  and 
the  bottom,  which  is  nearly  four  hundred  feet  distant 
from  the  entrance,  is  more  than  five  hundred  feet  per- 
pendicular from  the  top  of  the  hill  under  which  it  was 
dug.  The  walls  and  ceiling  are  full  of  carved  hierogly- 
phics except  No.  17,  which,  much  superior  to  the  rest 
every  way,  is  done  in  bas  relief. 


89 

"On  entering  the  tomb  (of  Sethi  I.)  the  visitor  finds  himself 
actually  transported  into  anew  world,  .  .  .  All  has  become, 
so  to  speak,  fantastical  chimerical.  The  gods  assume  strange 
forms.  Long  serpents  glide  hither  and  thither  round  the  rooms 
or  stand  erect  against  the  doorways.  Some  convicted  malefac- 
tors are  being  decapitated  and  others  are  being  precipitated  intO' 
the  flames.  Well  might  the  visitor  feel  a  kind  of  horror  creep- 
ing over  him  if  he  did  not  realize  that  after  all,  underneath 
these  strange  representations  lies  the  most  consoling  of  dogmas,, 
that  which  vouchsafes  eternal  happiness  to  the  soul  after  the 
many  trials  of  this  life.  Such,  in  fact,  is  the  meaning  of  the 
pictures  which  adorn  the  walls  of  this  tomb.  This  legend  must 
be  understood  in  an  allegorical  sense.  The  judgment  of  the 
soul  after  being  separated  from  the  body,  and  the  many  trials 
which  it  will  be  called  upon  to  overcome  by  the  aid  only  of 
such  virtues  as  it  has  evinced  while  on  earth,  constitute  the  sub- 
ject-matter w'hich  cover  the  tomb,  from  the  entrance  to  the 
extreme  end  of  the  last  chamber.  The  serpents  standing  erect 
over  each  portal,  darting  out  venom,  are  the  guardians  ol  the 
gates  of  heaven— the  soul  cannot  pass  unless  justified  by  works 
of  piety  and  benevolence.  Thus  the  tomb  is  only  the  emblem 
of  the  voyage  of  the  soul  to  its  eternal  abode  .  .  .  from  room 
to  room  we  witness  its  progress  as  it  appears  before  the  gods 
and  becomes  gradually  purified,  at  last  in  the  grand  hall,  at  the 
end,  it  is  admitted  into  that  life  which  a  second  death  shall 
never  reach."— 3iaWe^^^. 

I  took  coj^ies  of  the  hieroglyphics  from  several  of  these 
tombs  but  the  raised  letters  copied  much  the  best.  We 
lunched  in  one  of  these,  and  rode  through  the  Necropolis 
to  the  temple-tomb  (of  marble)  of  Queen  Hatasou  and 
the  Eamesium — Temple  of  Eameses  II.  "erected  in  the 
very  center  of  the  district  of  the  dead,  the  monument 
where  after  his  death  his  subjects  should  come  and 
evoke  his  memory  and  wherein  he  naturally  displays  his 
piety,  his  glory  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  his  campaigns." 

"Eameses  should  have  been  pleased  with  his  temple, 
for  it  was  not  built  by  his  descendant,  but  by  himself 
self  and  for  his  own  honor." 
7 


90 

AYe  visited  the  Temple  of  Medinet  Habou  and  the 
iVIemnonium  of  Strabo  where  a  few  f oundatiou  stones 
and  the  gigantic  colossi  alone  remain.  One  of  these  is 
said  to  have  greeted  Aurora  with  a  song  each  morn- 
ing ;  the  expansion  caused  by  the  sun's  heat  (it  being 
shattered)  no  doubt  has  at  times  made  noise  enough  to 
attract  attention  and  give  rise  to  the  legend.  They  once 
stood  at  the  entrance  of  a  temple  nearly  one-fourth  of  a 
mile  in  length.  Many  of  the  columns  of  the  temple  of 
Eameses  the  Great  still  stand  with  the  Osiride  images 
in  situ,  but  much  defaced.  The  most  important  thing 
here  is  the  statue  of  Rameses.  It  is  a  monolith  of  red 
granite,  representing  the  king  sitting,  hands  on  his 
knees,  at  peace  with  his  enemies. 

It  was  originally  57  feet  high  and  over  22  feet  4 
inches  across  the  shoulders,  and  is  estimated  to  weigh 
1198  tons.  It  has  been  thrown  down  and  much  broken, 
many  millstones  having  been  taken  from  the  very  face, 
but  from  the  armpits  up  it  is  entire,  except  exteriorly 
much  mutilated,  and  is  above  ground,  so  as  to  exhibit 
"just  what  it  was,  the  largest  statue  in  the  world."  But 
how  it  became  so  broken  to  pieces  no  man  knoweth. 
This  is  No  of  the  Scriptures: — "Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God :  I  will  also  destroy  the  idols,  and  I  will  cause 
their  images  to  cease  out  of  Noph ;  and  there  shall  be 
no  more  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  and  I  will  put  a 
fear  in  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  I  will  make  Pathros 
desolate,  and  will  set  fire  in  Zoan,  and  will  execute 
judgments  in  No.  And  I  will  pour  my  fury  upon 
Sin,  the  strength  of  Egypt ;  and  I  will  cut  off  the  mul- 
titude of  No.  And  I  will  set  fire  in  Egypt :  Sin  shall 
have  great  pain,  and  No  shall  be  rent  asunder,  and  Noph 


91 

shall  have  distresses  daily.  The  young  men  of  Aven 
and  of  Pi-beseth  shall  fall  by  the  sword :  and  these  cities 
shall  go  into  captivity."  "  At  Tehaphnehes  also  the 
day  shall  be  darkened,  when  I  shall  break  there  the 
yokes  of  Eg}^t;  and  the  pomp  of  her  strength  shall 
cease  in  her:  as  for  her  a  cloud  shall  cover  her,  and  her 
daughters  shall  go  into  captivity.  Thus  will  I  exe- 
cute judgments  in  Egypt,  and  they  shall  know  that  I 
am  the  Lord."— Ezek.  30:  13-19.  And  I  turned  and 
read  up  the  prophecies  and  decrees  of  God  against  these 
idolatrous  cities  and  I  saw  that  they  are  literally  ful- 
filled. We  went  one  mile  south  to  the  Temple  of  Medi- 
inet  Habou,  where  the  only  naval  battle  of  the  Egyptians 
is  recorded  on  the  walls.  Here  is  a  great  succession  of 
temples  representing  much  history  and  probably  great 
devotion ;  the  victors  are  cutting  off  and  counting  the 
hands  of  the  vanquished.  Once  a  Christian  church  was 
in  the  precincts  of  this  temple,  in  the  very  court  where 
we  now  stand.  All  the  works  of  art  here  have  been 
destroyed  nearly.  Theodosius,  anxious  to  root  out  idol- 
atry, ruined  much,  perhaps  jealous  and  envious  con- 
querors, more.  All  these  temples,  while  at  a  good  ele- 
vation above  the  Nile's  overflow,  are  still  underground, 
except  where  reclaimed  by  scientists.  The  people  clus- 
tered around  these  deserted  temples  after  their  overthrow 
and  lived  in  them  and  built  around  them  until  debris 
accumulating,  they  built  on  the  tops  of  them,  and  so 
they  became  buried,  and  there  being  no  communication 
about  such  things  between  the  inhabitants  and  lovers  of 
antiquity,  some  of  these  cities  and  temples  were  long 
lost.  There  are  miserable  mud  towns  all  around  every 
one  of  them  now. 


PYLON,  OR  GATEJlTOjEGYPTIAN  TEMPLE,  8o  FEET  HIGH. 


93 

The  next  day  we  visited  the  Temple  of  Karnak,  the 
most  imposing  in  the  world,  whose  walls  25  feet  thick 
and  eighty  high,  are  penetrated  by  four  splendid  pylons 
still  standing;  it  contains  the  tallest  obelisk  in  the 
world,  108  feet  10  inches  high,  of  red  granite.  As  we 
sat  in  the  shadow  of  this  obelisk  a  strange  being  sud- 
denly appeared  before  us  whose  approach  had  been  un- 
-observed.  He  is  so  correctly  described  by  another  that 
I  copy,  omitting  one  or  two  sentences: 

"  In  the  Temple  of  Karnak,  amid  the  grandeur  unparalleled, 
was  a  scene  so  strange  and  weird,  so  horrible  yet  fascinating,  as 
to  surpass  the  wildest  fancies  of  Dumas  or  Eugene  Sue.  It 
thrilled,  repelled,  yet  held  the  gaze  until  nature,  half-paralyzed 
by  the  spectacle,  asserted  itself  and  compelled  the  removal  of 
the  object.  \.  creature  in  the  form  of  a  human  being,  paralyzed, 
mute,  naked,  except  for  a  rag  tied  across  the  loins  ;  with  shaven 
head,  apparently  seventy  years  of  age,  perchance  not  more  than 
fifty,  perhaps  nearly  one  hundred,  exactly  the  color  of  the 
ruined  columns  and  the  doorway,  crawled  out  from  under  the 
broken  pillars  and  huge  monoliths,  as  a  lizard  might  emerge 
from  a  pile  of  stones.  A  mumbling,  inarticulate  sound  emerged 
from  his  lips  ;  he  moved  sideways  and  tried  to  rise,  and  held 
out  his  hands  for  alms;  *  *  *  some  of  the  Egyptian  attendants 
seemed  to  stand  in  awe  of  him,  and  hesitated  to  drive  him  back 
into  the  obscurity  whence  he  had  emerged.  And  when  at  last 
two  of  them  lifted  him  up  to  move  him,  he  exerted  what 
strength  he  had  and  broke  from  them,  falling  upon  the  ground 
and  moving  off"  with  the  sinuous  sideway  motion  with  which 
he  had  approached  ;  but  whenever  he  fell  the  hand  which  was 
held  out  to  receive  alms  always  came  into  position.  Nothing 
human  have  I  ever  seen  in  collections  of  deformities  and  idiot 
asylums  so  peculiar;  nothing  which  appeared  to  efface  human- 
ity and  so  transform  a  man  into  a  beast. 

"  I  departed  with  an  intensified  sense  of  the  greatness  and  of 
the  littleness  of  man." — Observations  Abroad. 

Here  stands  the  most  massive  and  Avell  preserved  col- 
umns; one   court   alone   contains  134  columns,  t-welve 


94 

feet  in  diameter  and  sixty  feet  liigh,  with  capitals  of 
open  and  closed  lotns — called  the  forest  of  columns. 
The  whole  is  If  miles  in  circumference,  and  dating,  a 
part  of   it,    to  3064  B.  C. 

As  we  Avandered  through  the  ruins  of  this  temple, 
covering  90  acres  and  gazed  in  bewilderment  upon  the 
time-defying  obelisk,  massive  pylons  and  cyclopean  walls, 
and  above  all,  the  magnificent  forest  of  columns,  in  im- 
agination we  repeopled  these  plains  with  a  race  superior 
in  civilization  to  these  moderns,  laid  oif  the  vast  plain 
into  streets  and  stood  dazed  in  the  old,  proud  ''Empress 
of  the  Egyptian  plain." 

The  ocean  by  its  vastness  and  power,  the  mountain  by 
its  lofty  seclusion  awe  us,  but  not  less  so  these  stu- 
pendous, mysterious  ruins.  These  stones  were  quarried 
and  strangely  freighted  from  some  far-away  mine,  and 
by  the  greatest  of  architects  reared  for  the  glory  of  their 
city  and  worship  of  their  gods,  ages  before  Columbus 
sailed  in  seach  of  America  or  the  cornerstones  of  London 
or  Komeor  Athens  were  laid,  before  the  children  of  Israel 
crossed  the  Red  Sea,  or  Moses  was  born,  when  all  the 
nations  that  now  exist  lay  back  in  the  womb  of  barbarism. 

The  air  seemed  "heavy  with  history."  With  what 
exultant  pride  the  ancient  builder  stood  apart  to  look 
upon  the  labors  of  his  hands  I  Was  he  not  a  worshiper 
of  nature's  Architect  whose  templed  universe  suggested 
the  pattern  for  this  temple  on  the  Xile  I  0,  wonderful 
men  of  old  I  0,  silent  yet  most  eloquent  pillars  that 
defy  the  marvelous  sweep  of  Time  that  has  vanquished 
all  your  contemporaries  of  old  I  What  countless  myr- 
iads have  come  and  gone  since  the  chisel  decreed  you  to 
be  so  grandly  beautiful  ^     I  thank  you  for  the  spell,  the 


95 


inspiration,  the  dread  engendered  only  in  sucli  presence. 
We  stopped  at  Denderah  returning,  and  found  a  tem- 
ple entire.  Mariette  says  this  temple  was  in  course  of 
completion  while  Jesus  was  living  in  Jerusalem.  It 
consists  of  not  less  than  27  halls  and  chambers  on  the 
first  floor ;  others  above  are  reached  by  two  flights  of 
stone  stairs.  This  temple  was  not  a  place  for  the  peo- 
ple to  meet  and  worship,  it  was  penetrated  only  by  the 
king,  priests  and  their  special  attendants,  no  dwellings 
exist  for  priests  as  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  "  It  was  a 
sacred  depository,  a  place  of  preparation  (for  fetes)  and 
of  consecration.  Here  processions  were  organized  and 
the  sacred  vessels  carefully  stored  away;  if  inside  all 
was  dark  and  sombre  and  nothing  indicates  the  use  of 
artificial  light— that  darkness  w^as  intended  to  intensify 
the  mystery  of  the  ceremonies,  while  it  secured  the  only 
mode  known  of  preserving  the  precious  objects  and  the 
sacred  vestments  from  the  ravages  of  insects  and  flies,  from 
the  penetrating  dust  and  from  the  scorching  sun."  The 
cathedrals  of  Eome,  some  of  them,  might  trace  their 
pedigree  this  far  up  the  Mle  if  not  farther. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


DOWN  THE  NILE  TO  CAIRO. 


The  Mle,  one-fourth  to  one-half  a  mile  wide,  increases 
in  Yolnme  from  its  months  upwards  for  fourteen  hun- 
dred miles,  owing  to  the  vast  quantity  of  water  used  for 
irrigation  and  evaporation,  and  the  fact  that  through  all 
this  distance  it  is  without  a  tributary.  The  water  is 
muddy,  a  seal  brown,  but  when  tiltered  is  clear  and  cool. 
Besides  the  steamer,  two  or  three  other  kinds  of  boats 
ply  on  the  bosom  of  Sihor,  as  the  ancients  called  the 
Nile.  The  largest  of  these  is  called  the  dahabeah.  It 
has  state-rooms  like  a  steamer,  but  is  moved  by  sails  and 
oars.  They  are  often  fifty  feet  in  length,  perhaps  eighty 
or  a  hundred.  One-half  of  the  dahabeah  is  devoted  to 
state  rooms,  saloon,  &c.,  the  other  to  cargo,  deck,  and  for 
the  liberty  of  those  managing  sails  and  oars.  Other 
boats  (Markebs)  using  sails  when  the  wind  favored  and 
long  heavy  oars,  laden  with  Avheat,  sheep,  water  jars,  &c., 
went  down  to  Cairo  and  Alexandria  and  returned  well 
nigh  empty  or  with  merchandise  for  countries  south  of 
Egypt.  As  every  nation  that  uses  ships  has  a  peculiar  sail 
with  Avhich  to  drive  them,  so  the  sails  of  any  Egptian 
boat  are  like  birds'  wings  drawn  out  and  up,  the  points 
farthest  from  the  mast  being  sharp.  They  are  stretched 
on  booms  and  sheets  supported  by  a  long  sweep  balanced 
on  an  upright  j^ost  rather  than  masts,  and  at  such  an 
angle  as  the  sailors   choose.     Sometimes   half  a   dozen 


97 

Arabs  tugged  tliem  slowly  up  the  stream  by  a  long  rope, 
sometimes  in  the  water,  sometimes  on  the  bank.  We 
have  noticed  their  boats  and  cargo  covered  over  with  a 
network  that  allowed  the  cargo  of  water- jars  to  reach 
several  feet  beyond  the  sides  of  the  boat.  The  wheat 
was  poured  out  in  the  boat  without  sacks,  as  it  was  upon 
the  ground  when  they  reached  market. 

Thousands  of  natives  almost  entirely  nude  raise  water 
to  irrigate  the  lands  for  from  one  to  three  ■piastres,  five 
to  fifteen  cents,  per  day.  Herons  fly  round  us  all  the 
time  and  fine  large  ducks,  while  hordes  of  tame  uncouth 
monsters  called  here  buffaloes  come  down  and  wallow  in 
the  Nile  like  hogs. 

In  the  morning  and  evening  it  is  pleasant  on  the  Nile, 
but  in  the  middle  of  the  day  it  is  hot,  no  clouds  protect 
one  from  the  sun  during  the  day.  At  night  overcoats 
are  needed ;  many  natives  wear  them  all  day. 

Keturning  to  Cairo  I  visited  On  or  Heliopolis,  where 
Moses  was  graduated,  about  six  miles  north-east  from 
Cairo.  I  went  alone  as  my  companions  had  gone  to  the 
pyramids,  which  I  had  visited  previously.  The  price  of 
a  carriage  was  ten  shillings,  having  proved  their  excel- 
lent qualities  of  locomotion  in  upper  Egypt  I  deter- 
mined to  ride  a  donkey,  as  he  would  cost  me,  with  a 
donkey  boy,  only  three  shillings.  There  is  always  a 
crowd  of  boys  and  men  with  donkeys  to  hire  on  the 
streets  of  Cairo,  and  as  soon  as  they  learned  that  I  want- 
ed one,  twenty  or  thirty  surrounded  me,  each  proclaim- 
ing the  superiority  of  his  animal.  I  did  not  want  to  go 
at  that  moment,  so  crowding  to  the  margin  of  the  mob  I 
ran  as  fast  as  I  could  down  a  side  street.  One  of  them 
gave  a  signal  to  another  company  ahead  of  me,  and  they 
started  to  meet  me,  the  former  following,  and  so  hemmed 


99 

nie  in  between  the  walls,  full  forty  of  them,  each  with  a 
donkey  to  let,  and  each  determined  that  I  should  ride 
his.  Seeing  no  way  of  escape,  I  took  out  my  knife  and 
began  hacking  as  if  I  would  cut  them  to  pieces  and  try- 
ing to  look  as  desperate  as  possible,  but  all  to  no  avail ; 
they  never  noticed  the  knife  more  than  if  I  had  had 
none,  so  I  took  a  donkey  and  am  sure  the  worst  donkey 
boy  in  Egypt,  and  started  to  see  the  remains, of  Egypt's 
old  university  town.  On  the  road  I  passed  a  cemetery 
where  they  were  burying  a  babe  without  a  coffin,  as  they 
have  no  timber  out  of  which  to  make  coffins.  It  was 
wrapped  up  very  tightly,  rather  I  should  say  bound  up, 
laid  in  a  recess  on  one  side  of  a  shallow  grave  and  the 
sand  and  gravel  poured  in  upon  it.  I  was  ordered  to 
quit  the  place  before  .he  interment  was  complete,  which 
I  afterward  learned  was  because  I  was  unclean;  being 
only  a  Christian  I  had  no  right,  and  they  determined  not 
to  suffer  me  to  pollute  the  sacred  place. 

On  leaving  I  saw  a  woman  veiled  and  seated  about 
fifty  yards  away  weeping  aloud.  I  asked  my  donkey-boy 
the  cause  of  her  weeping ;  he  said  she  was  the  child's 
mother.  I  asked  why  she  was  there  alone.  "  She  does 
not  w^ant  the  men  to  see  her  face,"  he  said. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  witness  two  other  funeral  proces- 
sions the  same  day.  One  was  that  of  Haggar  Ali,  evi- 
dently a  man  of  distinction  and  popularity,  by  the  style- 
and  size  of  the  procession,  and  the  fact  that  ten  widows 
were  following  his  bier,  over  which  most  gorgeous  ban- 
ners floated  high  in  the  air. 

Another  corpse  followed  by  a  large  concourse  and  five 
wives,  had  been  no  doubt  a  man  of  importance,  whose- 
name  I  never  learned ;  both  had  been  entirely  too  much 
married.      The   procession  accompanying   these  corpses 


100 

'made  vocal  and  martial  music,  wherefore  I  judged  tliem 
to  have  been  government  or  army  officials. 

AVe  passed  on  the  way  to  On  a  multitude  of  Arabs 
formed  in  a  circle  about  thirty  feet  in  diameter.  We 
paused  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  excitement.  A 
snake-charmer  had  two  striped  snakes  about  a  yard  long 
Tv^hich  were  crawling  about  over  his  bare  shoulders,  arms 
.and  neck,  and  he  was  making  his  little  boy,  about  five 
years  old,  handle  them  in  the  same  way.  The  boy  very 
reluctantly  undertook  his  part,  w^hereupon  the  father  (if 
he  were  a  father)  would  take  a  clamp  made  of  iron,  spring 
it  open,  run  one  end  in  the  boy's  mouth,  the  other  resting 
on  his  cheek  and  pressing  so  tightly  that  the  blood  would 
•ooze  out,  while  he  would  stand  off  and  deliver  an  ani- 
mated speech  in  Arabic  to  the  delighted  spectators,  not 
.seeming  to  notice  his  boy,  whose  anguish  was  expressed 
in  wailings  and  tears.  I  could  not  willingly  witness  such 
inhuman  conduct  and  hurried  away. 

Nothing  of  interest  remains  at  On  save  the  obelisk, 
'66i  feet  high  and  the  oldest  one  standing,  said  to  have 
been  erected  "1740  B.  0.  by  Usertasen,  under  whom 
.Joseph  came  to  Egypt,"  —  Wilkinsoii, — at  which  Moses 
and  Joseph  before,  must  often  have  looked,  and  perhaps 
criticised  the  hieroglyphics  on  it.  Under  its  shadow 
Plato  studied  Philosophy,  and  our  Savior  in  infancy 
may  have  looked  at  it,  as  the  tree  called  tne  "  Virgin's 
Tree,"  where  the  holy  family  is  said  to  have  rested,  when 
they  fled  into  Egypt,  is  nearly  in  sight.  It  is  an  old  syc- 
amore, similar  in  appearance  to  a  mulberry,  cut  and 
.scarred  by  vain  tourists,  standing  about  eighty  yards 
from  the  highway;  it  is  reached  by  passing  through  a  gate 
and  the  walks  of  a  lovely  garden,  where  bachsheesh  is 
is^anted  when  you  enter,   while  you   stay  and  when  you 


101 

leave;  in  fact  the  gate-keei^er  refused  to  let  me  out  until 
T  had  satisfied  some  half-dozen  urchins  who  seized  my 
donkey's  bridle  and  tail  when  I  mounted  to  start  and 
wanted  more ;  but  after  all  you  can  often  satisfy  half  a 
dozen  of  them  with  a  dime,  while  again  they  will  clamor 
until  they  have  gotten  two  or  three  times  as  much  as 
they  have  earned,  and  the  only  way  to  deal  -with  them 
satisfactorily  is  to  fix  the  price  of  everything  before- 
starting  with  them,  pay^this^only  at  the  end  of  the  jour- 
ney, or  they  will  never  complete  it. 

I  went  with  a  gentleman  of  Dr.  Whigham's  party  to^ 
the  i^yramids  the  first  day  we  were  in  Cairo.  We  bar- 
gained to  give  fifteen  shillings  for  a  carriage  and  guide,, 
he  unwittingly  paid  him  before  reaching  our  hotel,  and 
because  we  did  not  give  "backsheesh,"  he  stopped,  we- 
paid  him  a  shilling  to  go  on,  he  drove  about  fifty  yards 
and  stopped  again,  wanting^more  "backsheesh,"  and  we- 
could  not  urge  him  farther.  We  reached  the  hotel  on 
foot.  It  was  our  first  day  amongst  them  and  we  had  not 
learned  their  tricks.  They  are  superlatively  filthy,, 
though  some  are  scrupulously  cleanly.  We  saw  hun- 
dreds of  them  lying  on  the  streets  asleep  in  the  scorch- 
ing sunshine.  In  the  main  they  are  very  healthy  look- 
ing; they  live  on  bread  and  vegetables,  rice  and  buffalo- 
milk. 

There  was  a  fine  mission  work  being  prosecuted  here 
in  Cairo,  under  Dr.  Lansing  and  Dr.  Bliss  (who  has 
since  died)  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  We  visited, 
them  and  heard  them  relate  how  they  had  moved  on 
from  a  small  beginning  to  large  success.  We  saw  about 
one  hundred  young  Arab  men  belonging  to  their  school 
in  a  debating  society,  discussing  some  query  in  quite  a. 


102 

lively  manner,  but  it  was  all  Arabic  to  us.  The  mis- 
sionary at  Luqsor  was  absent  while  we  were  there,  but 
we  met  several  of  his  pupils  which  are  more  or  less  cred- 
itable to  him.  I  think  he  is  doing  a  fair  work.  How 
they  can  endure  the  summer  here  is  more  than  I  can  un- 
derstand. Life  must  be  in  great  peril  later  in  the  sea- 
son. But  when  the  Lord  said,  "\Y\io  will  go  for  us  ?" 
the  love  of  Christ  and  souls  constrained  them  and  they 
said,  "Here  am  I,  send  me." 

I  and  Mr.  Merrill  went  to  the  Boulac  Museum,  the 
the  most  important  of  any  in  the  world  on  some  accounts. 
Here  are  the  best  preserved  and  most  numerous  works  of 
art  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  the  most  illustrous 
mummies  that  now  exist  or  perhaps  ever  will.  Julius 
Caesar  or  even  Alexander  the  Great,  would  be  modern 
beside  these  hoary  monarchs.  But  here  they  are  in  a 
state  of  excellent  preservation. 

Here  is  Sethi  I.,  whose  tomb  we  explored  at  Thebes 
done  in  bass-relief  from  the  entrance  to  the  most  remote 
recesses,  at  a  cost,  no  doubt,  reckoning  on  our  basis  of 
valuing  time  and  labor,  of  millions  of  dollars.  Fully  ten 
thousand  square  feet  of  surface  was  filled  with  raised 
hieroglyphics.  He  is  the  Pharaoh,  whose  daughter 
found  little  Moses,  at  whose  table  Moses  ate,  on  whose 
knees  he  sat,  these  same  hands  no  doubt  smoothed  back 
the  curls  from  his  parched  brow  many  a  day  when  he 
came  in  from  play.  He  is  a  little  above  the  medium 
height  and  very  bright.  Just  beside  him  is  his  son, 
Rameses  the  11. ,  commonly  called  Rameses  the  Great. 
Hejs  dark,  owing  probably  to  the  discoloring  effect  of  the 
•embalming  material.  He  began  to  rule  on  the  throne 
at  11  years  of  age,  and  waged   war  at  7  3'ears  of  age,  he 


103 

ruled  67  .years  altogether;  he  was  three  years  younger 
than  Moses  and  no  doubt  they  had  many  a  boyish  joust 
and  turn  down  m  the  Nile.  He  is  that  Pharaoh  who 
was  angry  at  Moses,  when  he  heard  that  Moses  had 
taken  an  Egyptian's  life,  and  he  sought  to  kill  him,  and 
Moses  fled  from  his  face  and  from  Egypt  until  Rameses 
was  dead  ;  he  is  the  author  of  the  largest  Monolith  image 
ever  made  ;  under  him  Egypt  obtained  quiet  from  all 
her  enemies. 

He  is  known  to  Egyptologists  as  the  Pharaoh  of  the 
oppression  (of  the  IsraeHtes.) 

Beside  these  is  Thothmes  the  3rd,  known  as  the  Na- 
poleon of  Egypt,  because  he  was  the  greatest  of  her 
warriors.  Under  him  Egypt  "  placed  her  frontier  where 
she  pleased."  "On  the  beautiful  stela  of  victory  of  Thoth- 
mes III,  at  Boulaq,  it  is  written:  I  Anion  have  spread 
the  fear  of  thee  to  the  four  pillars  of  heaven."— ^6ers. 

Standing  in  the  presence  of  these  old  monarchs  of 
antiquity  and  thinking  of  the  changes  since  their  day 
and  how  they  laid  the  foundation  to  so  large  an  extent 
of  all  subsequent  civilization,  it  seems  as  if  the  ends  of 
the  earth  were  come  together. 

As  I  looked  down  upon  their  upturned  faces  that  did 
not  seem  more  than  a  decade  to  have  suffered  by  the 
ravages  of  time,  I  thought  of  the  poet's  words  : 

"The  cloud-capped  towers,  the  gorgeous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve ; 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded. 
Leave  not  a  rdck  behind  :    We  are  such  stuff 
As  dreams  are  made  of,  and  our  little  life 
Is  rounded  with  a  sleep." —Tempest. 

One  is  awed  in  the  presence  of  the  universal  slayer's 


104 

mighty  victims.  Could  those  silent  lips  but  speak,  what 
stories  could  they  relate !  What  light  cast  upon  the 
dark  and  distant  past,  about  our  fathers  who  went  down 
into  Egypt,  and  sojourned  there,  in  a  strange  land; 
about  these  old  tombs  and  temples,  obelisks  and  pyra- 
mids, through  which  the  antiquarian  wanders,  and  pon- 
ders, vainly  trying  to  make  them  reveal  their  secrets. 
Could  it  be  authoritatively  announced  that  on  a  given 
day  they  would  rise  in  their  coffins  and  tell  their  expe- 
riences, what  a  pilgrimage  of  Savants  there  would  be. 
Every  additional  item  of  knowledge,  however,  only  con- 
firms our  sacred  records.  The  sight  of  these  old  kings 
was  well  worth  the  journey  to  Egypt,  and  had  I  seen  no 
more  should  have  felt  myself  to  be  well  repaid.  I  said 
rest  on  old  heroes  to  wield  the  sword  of  truth  more 
mighty  than  the  ones  of  steel  that  gave  you  such  re- 
nown ;  let  your  shrivelled  hands,  though  palsied  by 
death,  crush  the  mighty  king's  ot  error,  who  fain  would 
rob  us  of  the  heritage  bequeathed  us  by  Moses ;  you 
sought  his  life  then,  but  remain  to  defend  his  teach- 
ings now;  your  lifeless  bodies,  if  not  worth  more  to  the 
race  than  your  ambitious  spirits  challenge,  at  least, 
an  equal  place. 

If  man  has  acquired  the  skill  of  thus  preserving  from 
decay  the  perishable  body  of  his  fellow-man,  what  an 
easy  task  will  it  be  for  the  great  Creator  to  summon  the 
scattered  particles  of  those  who  have  not  been  preserved 
by  the  embalmers  art,  on  the  resurrection  morning ! 

"Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  that 
God  should  raise  the  dead!" 


CHAPTER  XII. 


ODDS  AND  ENDS. 


I  noticed  in  Cairo  two  footmen  dressed  in  white 
.frocks  to  the  knees,  bare-legged,  with  long  tasseled  caps 
on  their  heads  and  bearing  long  sticks  as  soldiers  carry 
arms.  They  trotted  about  twenty  steps  in  front  of  a 
carriage  in  which  an  English  lady  and  gentleman  were 
seated.  These  fellows  will  hire  as  footmen  to  run  all 
dfiy  for  two  and  a  half  cents  per  hour,  or  even  less. 
Cheap  p  ges. 

On  the  way  up  I  noticed  the  natives  cleaning  out  a 
canal ;  fully  one  thousand  of  them  were  at  work,  most 
of  them  without  a  shred  of  clothing,  which  fact  seemed 
not  to  embarrass  them  in  the  least.  They  did  not  have 
a  spade,  a  wheel-barrow,  nor  cart,  but  standing  in  rows 
of  five,  six,  seven  and  eight,  or  nine,  the  first  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  canal  cut  out  a  chunk  of  mud  weighing  ten 
or  fifteen  pounds  with  his  hands,  passed  it  on  to  the  sec- 
ond and  he  to  the  third  up  the  bank  until  it  reached  the 
top,  where  the  last  man  took  it  and  cast  it  as  far  as  he 
could.  Some  of  them  were  standing  two  and  three  feet 
deep  in  the  mud.  Their  manner  of  ditching  was  about 
as  primitive  as  that  of  North  Carolinians  in  working  the 
public  roads,  in  some  counties. 

The  clover  of  Egypt  grows  about  three  feet  high,  is 
very    nourishing  to    herbivorous  animals,   and    is   cut 


106 

with  a  knife.  I  did  not  see  a  mowing  scythe  in  the 
country.  One  can  sit  down  and  cut  as  much  as  he  can 
carry  without  moving.  They  carry  camel  loads  (about 
five  hundred  or  six  hundred  pounds)  and  donkey  loads 
of  it  to  the  towns  every  day.  These  loads  of  grass 
borne  by  donkeys  often   present  a   laughable  sight — 


^^> 


WATER  CARRIER. 


nothing  but  the  feet  of  the  animal  is  seen,  or  possibly  a 
pair  of  ears  and  a  tail  and  feet ;  the  rest  is  enveloped  in 
a  great  mound  of  green  clover.  One  can  buy  enough  of 
it  to  support  a  donkey  or  a  horse  for  a  day  for  three  or 
four  cents. 


107 

On  all  the  highways  great  numbers  of  women  can  be 
seen  gathering  dung,  which  is  made  into  cakes,  dried  in 
the  sun,  and  stored  away  for  fuel,  with  which  they  cook. 
They  are  driven  to  this  extremity  beca'use  no  timber 
except  for  fruit  and  shade  is  found. 

Tlie  Arabs  have  a  market  day   every  week  ;  on  that 
day  every  one  who  has  anything  to  sell,  or  who  wishes 
to  buy,  will  go  to  the  bazaar,  often  with  long  trains  of 
laden  camels  fastened  tandem.     The  first  is  ridden  or 
led,  a  rope  halter  with  an  iron  piece  under  the  chin  of 
the  second,  hurting  him  if  he  pull  back,  fastens  him 
to  the  saddle  of  the  first ;  the  third  is  in  like  manner 
fastened  to  the  second,  and  so  on  till  a  caravan  is  easily 
managed  by  one  driver.     If  th^y  live  near  the  city  they 
pause  on  the  suburbs,  as  there  is  a  tax  on  everything 
that  passes  the  city  boundaries.     One  often  sees  as  many 
as  a  thousand,  and  half  as  many  donkeys  and  camels, 
all  seated  on  the  ground,  (except  the  donkeys)  with  all 
the  products  of  the  country  and  every  article  imported 
into  the  country  for  sale.     On  market  day  only  will  you 
find  them  there.     If  they  are  far   from  the  city  they 
have  a  meeting  place  in  the  country,  where  they  bring 
horses,  donkeys,  sheep,  goats  and  cattle,  and  spend  the 
day  trading. 

As  priests  in  the  Greek  and  Catholic  churches  are 
distinguished  by  their  caps,  so  the  different  sects  of 
Mohammedans  are  also.  The  ordinary  Arab  wears  a 
red  fez  with  a  black  tassel  in  the  center  of  the  crown.  I 
have  read  that  families  were  once  distinguished  by  the 
color  of  the  fez.  I  was  told  that  those  who  have  made 
the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  are  afterwards  entitled  to  wear 
a  green  fez.  The  Dervish  wears  a  gray  fez  with  double 
the  altitude  of  an  ordinary  red  fez  and  four  times  the 
bulk  or  thickness ;  in  fact  it  is  made  of  the  same  ma- 
terial as  a  saddle  blanket  and  as  thick. 


108 

There  are  two  sects  of  Dervishes — the  Dancers  and 
Howlers.  The  first  sway  their  bodies  to  and  fro  and 
whirl  around  on  tip  toe,  singing,  and  saying  "He  is  one. 
He  is  God,"  Lah-lllah- Allah! ,  until  exhausted. 

The  Howlers  will  sit  cross-legged  on  the  floor  and 
repeat  verses  of  the  Koran  and  whine  as  they  sing  or 
read  from  their  book,  swaying  their  bodies  back  and 
forth.  None  but  the  Dancing  Dervishes  allow  Christians 
to  be  present  during  the  hours  of  worship  on  Friday. 
But  they  worship  anywhere  any  day,  iji  a  railway  car- 
riage, on  the  roadside,  on  the  deck  of  a  boat.  They 
generally  spread  down  a  handkerchief  or  blanket  on  the 
ground,  get  on  their  knees,  put  their  forehead  three 
times  to  the  earth, ]rise  and  stand,  face  towards  Mecca, 
touch  the  lower  tip  of  the  ears  with  the  ends  of  the 
thumbs,  fold  their  Uiands  across  the  breast,  kneel  and 
touch  their  forehead  the  fourth  time  to  the  ground, 
usually  taking  about  three  minutes  to  worship. 

A  fellow  traveller  told  me  a  story  of  an  Arab,  which  is 
true  to  life.  A  physician  had  taken  a  very  poor  Arab 
to  his  house  and  treated  him  for  some  disease  that 
promised  to  prove  fatal,  but  the  medical  man  succeeded 
in  making  a  cure.  When  the  doctor  told  his  j^^tient 
that  he  was  well  enough  to  return  home,  the  good  mus- 
sulman  thought] that  the  doctor  was  under  lasting  obli- 
gations for  the  privilege  I  of  having  had  such  a  subject 
to  practice  upon,  and  before  leaving  told  him  bethought 
he  (the  doctor)  should  bestow  some  nice  backsheesh 
(present)  by  which  to| remember  him.  "The  only  grat- 
itude they  know'is  a  lively  desire  for  greater  favors." 

Said  Joseph  was  our  guide  to  the  tombs  of  the  Kings. 
He  had  two  wives.  We  asked  him  about  a  multiplicity 
of  wives.     He  said,  "Two  wives  no  good."    When  the 


109 


husband  maltreats  one  wife  she  carries  the  caee  to  a 
judge,  who  calls  the  rascal  to  account  and  extracts 
pledges  of  good  behavior.  The  punishment  of  the  wife 
is  left  to  the  husband,  who  is  often  very  brutal. 

We  noticed  excavations  going  on  around  the  temple  of 
Luqsor— one  which  Joseph  is  supposed  by  some  to  have 
built.     The  Arabs  were  reclaiming,   under  English  or 
French  engineers,  I  did  not  learn  which,  this  most  won- 
derful  seat   of  ancient  worship.     About  two  hundred 
Arabs  were  carrying  the  earth  off  in  flag  baskets.     Many 
children  were  engaged  on  the  job.     I  pointed  out  one 
little  girl  about  five  years  old,  crouched  in  a  sunk  place 
on  the  bank  of  the  river,  lying  as   flat  on  the  ground  as 
possible.     Said  I,  she  is  hid  to  keep  from  work.     We 
stopped  about  where  she  was  concealed ;  the  overseer 
looking  at  us  discovered  her,  called  her  out,  abused  her, 
if  he  did  not  beat  her.     She  was  exhausted  no  doubt,' 
and  obeyed  the  voice  of  nature  within  her  that  called 
for  rest.     The  overseer  looked,  with  a  flail  in  his  hand 
like  the  pictures  we  have  seen  of  the  task-masters  put 
over  the  Israelites  of  old.     These  living  wheel-barrows 
get  from  two  to  fifteen  cents  per  day. 

The  American  Consul  at  Luqsor  is  an  Arab,  Morad 
Ah.  His  son  speaks  English  very  well,  having  been 
educated  at  the  Mission  school  there.  We  were  invited 
to  dine  with  him  one  day  and  accepted  the  invitation 
We  were  there  to  learn.  Now  in  every  place  one  visits 
111  the  east,  there  are  antiquity  venders,  ^^Geniwine  an- 
tique, Howadjir  Antiques  vary  in  price  according  to 
the  success  the  manuflicturer  has  had  in  making  them 
look  old,  worn  and  dingy. 

Our  Consul  had  a  large  store  of  antiques.     And  din- 
ner over,  his  son  invited  us  to  look  at  them.     That  wa^ 


110 

the  secret  of  the  invitation  to  dinner.  He  had  a  museum 
indeed,  worth  a  great  deal  to  look  at.  He  sold  mum- 
mies and  mummy  cases.  He  had  mummy  cats  thou- 
sands of  years  old,  hawks,  and  scarabs  worth  ten  and 
fifteen  pounds  sterling.  And  whatever  you  priced '  was 
high,  many  times  the  price  of  the  same  article  sold 
by  one  who  had  no  claim  to  our  patronage.  So  we 
bought  enough  to  satisfy  him  that  his  invitation  was  ap- 
preciated and  not  extended  in  vain. 

The  donkey-boys  are  equally  shrewd,  and  if  their 
patrons  are  Americans  the}^  name  their  donkeys  after 
some  famous  American,  if  he  is  English,  after  some  Eng- 
lish Lord.  If  French,  after  Napoleon,  Boulanger,  &c.' 
"VVe  have  rode  on  Buffalo  Bill,  Grant,  Abraham,  Ma- 
homet and  Solomon. 

The  following  j^aragraph  is  from  a  sermon  by  my 
comrade,  Mr.  Merrill,  after  his  return  to  America: 


For  hundreds  of  miles,  beyond  where  the  railway  ends  and 
foreign  energy  steps,  you  see  no  separate  house  upon  the  land,, 
the  sign  of  ownership  and  independence.  Only  villages  of  mud 
rising  here  and  there  out  of  the  plain,  where  the  dwellings  of 
the  people  look  like  the  burrows  of  animals  in  a  bank  of  earth. 
At  every  landing  where  the  boat  touches,  are  crowds  of  people, 
half  fed,  half  clothed,  wholly  unwashed,  indolent,  squalid,  beg- 
gars and  blind,  indifferent,  crushed  in  all  their  hopes  by  the 
miserable  government  over  them,  paying  two-thirds  the  price 
of  all  products  in  taxes  and  often  robbed  of  the  rest.  With  no- 
capacity  to  enjoy  anything  beyond  the  leeks  and  black  bread 
that  appease  their  hunger  for  the  hour — with  not  enough 
spirit  to  raise  their  hands  and  brush  from  their  fiices  the  swarm 
of  flies  that  gather  there  under  the  torrid  sun.  You  would  not 
expect  in  that  torpidity,  in  that  lotus  eating  life,  any  growth  of 
hope  or  any  desire  for  something  better  beyond  the  borders  of 
the  Nile,  but  I  found  it  even  there.  I  had  on  the  last  day  at 
Karnak  and  Luxon  a  donkey  boy  who  had  learned  a  little  Eng- 
lish and  had,  with  much  enterprise,  named  his  donkey  after  a 


Ill 

certain  president  of  the  United  States.  As  he  ran  beside  the 
animal  during  the  day  he  asked  much  about  America,  and  I 
answered  all  his  questions  and  asked  him  if  he  would  like  to  go 
there  to  live.  "Yes,  yes,"  he  said,  "me  go  with  you!"  He 
found  out  that  I  was  to  leave  on  the  steamer  at  6  o'clock  in  the 
evening  and  just  as  I  got  on  board  and  was  looking  down  upon 
the  deck  I  saw  Hassen,  the  donkey  boy,  running  down  the  bank 
and  pushing  through  the  crowd  with  eager  eyes  called  "you 
take  me !  me  go  with  you !"  I  wanted  to  take  him  but  could 
do  nothing.  Tossing  him  a  bit  of  money  I  answered,  "No." 
His  face  fell  and  he  was  silent,  but  in  a  moment  after  he  was 
gesticulating  and  calling  me  again  to  take  him,  saying  "he  would 
work  hard,  be  good  boy  and  never  leave  me,"  and  the  last  view 
I  had  of  Luxon,  as  the  darkness  fell  and  the  steamer  moved 
aw^ay,  was  of  the  young  Arab,  Hassen  (the  acquaintance  of  a 
day)  reaching  out  his  hands  in  the  darkness  and  imploring  that 
he  might  be  taken  to  America.  It  seemed  to  me  it  was  but  a 
repetition  of  that  old  cry  and  of  that  deep  darkness  and  bond- 
age out  of  which  God  once  led  the  Hebrews  into  the  promised 
land-  a  darkness  and  a  bondage  that  has  prevailed  for  nearly 
all  its  history  over  the  face  of  Egypt. 


ilillFfiil^ 


fT^^fiwiiTr^p  "T '''''TinTii'n'"J«^ni!|iifi\l 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


ON  SUEZ  CANAL. 


Following  backward  the  course  over  which  earthly- 
kingdoms  have  passed,  we  go  from  the  home  of  the 
greatest  of  the  first  nations. 

As  we  flew  along  through  the  land  of  Goshen  towards 
ihe  Suez  Canal,  and  I  read  again  how  God  dealt  with 
Pharaoh — the  man  raised  up  to  show  what  long  suffer- 
ing and  authority  belong  to  God — the  story  of  Joseph, 
the  finest  and  most  succinct  delineation  of  human  na- 
ture, of  the  domestic  affections  and  the  strength  of 
blood  affinities,  of  the  special  providence  of  God,  of  the 
strength  and  rewards  of  faith,  of  the  nature  and  power 
of  prayer — a  story  that  has  ever  had  a  beauty  super- 
natural and  a  pathos  elsewhere  unequalled,  appeared 
still  more  beautiful  when  I  here  read  it  again. 

I  tried  to  picture  the  two  and  a  half  millions  of  He. 
brews  taking  up  their  line  of  march  towards  the  Red 
Sea,  and  Pharaoh  worried  almost  to  death  by  Moses,  a 
friend,  could  he  but  have  seen  it,  after  burying  his  first 
born,  gathering  his  armies,  it  may  be  from  the  very 
necropolis,  to  pursue  the  malcontents  and  force  them  to 
return,  the  safe  jDassage  of  the  latter  and  the  final  ca- 
tastrophe that  overwhelmed  the  haughty  monarch  and 
his  hosts. 

We  reached  Ismail,  on  the  Canal,  forty-seven  miles 
from  Port  Said,  where  we  stayed  all  night,  in  one  of  the 
prettiest  towns  on  earth.     The  streets  are  as  straight  as 


114 

an  arrow,  well  shaded,  macadamised  and  intersected  b}^ 
street  car  lines.  The  inhabitants  are  French  and  Arabs,, 
and  number  three  or  four  thousand. 

The  next  morning  was  so  stormy  that  we  could  not 
go  aboard  the  steamer,  because  the  canal  here  passes 
thiough  lake  Timsah,  five  miles  in  length,  and  the 
waves  were  so  violent  we  could  not  come  near  enough 
in  small  boats  to  board  her,  and  we  had  to  walk  three 
miles  to  pier  No.  6,  at  the  north-west  end  of  the  lake. 
There  were  many  weakly  ladies  in  the  company,  some 
of  whom  could  not  obtain  conveyances  and  w^ho  had  to 
walk  also,  and  were  of  course  exhausted.  They  were 
under  the  supervision  of  tourists'  agents  and  held  an: 
indignation  meeting  that  evening,  after  reaching  Port 
Said,  severely  censuring  Cook  &  Son  for  allowing  them 
to  suffer  such  inconveniences  and  also  for  detaining 
them  a  day  too  long  at  Port  Said. 

Port  Said  is  three  hours,  by  steamer,  from  Ismail,  on 
the  Suez  Canal,  cut  all  the  way  through  the  desert.  It 
was  so  very  windy  that  the  air  was  filled  with  sand,  and 
one  could  not  see  over  a  hundred  yards.  Dredges 
worked  by  steam  are  engaged  lifting  sand  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  canal  by  a  number  of  large  buckets  fastened 
to  an  endless  belt  or  chain.  These  buckets  j^ass  over  a- 
large  spout,  inclining  downwards  from  the  dredge  and 
reaching  a  hundred  feet  or  more  from  the  canal.  Into 
this  spout  the  buckets  empty  their  load  of  sand  and 
water  and  it  flows  far  off"  on  the  shore,  and  thus  the 
canal  is  kept  navigable.  It  is  seventy-two  feet  wide  at 
the  base,  at  the  narrowest  place,  and  widening  out  to 
two  and  three  hundred  feet  where  the  banks  are  low. 
The  water  is  twenty-six  feet  deep. 

The  day  we  spent  at  Port  Said  is  never  to  be  forgot-- 


115     • 

ten.  It  was  the  Sabbadi.  Our  steamer  was  appointedl 
to  sail  that  day,  but  could  not  load  her  cargo,  though 
the  sailors  labored  hard  all  da}'.  The  passengers  went 
in  a  body  to  the  office  and  tried  to  iorce  the  officers  into- 
measures,  but  all  in  vain.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon 
Monday  before  she  sailed.  AVe  were  all  shocked  at 
seeing  them  load  the  boat  on  Sunday,  but  protested 
against  having  to  rest  ourselves.  I  remarked  to  Mr.  M.,. 
it  seems  as  if  the  Lord  meant  to  make  us  rest  to-day 
any-way,  and  though  we  went  with  the  multitude,  (shall 
I  say  to  do  evil?)  amongst  whom  were  four  or  five 
clergymen  beside,  we  were  glad  of  the  delay.  Our 
rule  was  not  to  travel  on  Sundays.  All  sorts  of 
people  live  here — Arabs  of  course,  (the  country  is- 
full  of  them)  Germans,  English,  but  more  French ;  the 
Arabs  seem  to  take  to  the  French  and  vice  versa,  besides 
the  French  followed  De  Lesseps,  the  canal  builder,  here 
and  remained.  No  standard  of  morality  is  required, 
hence  the  most  shocking  scenes  are  common.  Sailors 
of  every  nationality  continually  coming  and  going  find 
a  populace  ever  ready  to  commingle  on  the  lowest  moral 
stratum  and  pander  to  the  most  vicious  tastes. 

We  inquired  for  a  church,  but  none  could  be  found. 
There  is  a  large  square  where  a  band  plays  Sunday- 
afternoon,  and  thousands  are  coming  and  going  all  the 
time.  This  is  the  only  place  where  we  saw  Caucasians 
and  Arabs  intermarried.  There  were  hundreds  of  rag- 
a-muffins  parading  the  streets.  Little  girls  from  five  to- 
ten  years  of  age  with  dresses  that  touched  the  ground 
wearing  bustles  large  as  water-buckets,  and  sporting 
beaux,  presented  a  sight  altogether  novel  to  us,  and  ex- 
tremely ridiculous.  Men  were  dressed  in  female  attire, 
and  perhaps  females  were  dressed  as  men.  Whites  were- 
blacked,  and  the  band  and  soldiers  burlesqued  by  reck- 


116 

lees  boys,  with  all  manner  of  squeaking  instruments,  and 
sticks  for  swords  and  guns — wearing  false  faces,  &c. 
Thus  the  French  holiday  takes  the  place  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath  of  rest  and  worship,  and  as  a  further  conse- 
quence gambling  hells  and  other  ruinous  institutions  oc- 
cupy where  churches  should  have  been  built  and  Sun- 
day schools  carried  on. 

An  Arab  boy  persisted  in  an  effort  to  black  my  shoes, 
against  all  protestations,  though  I  told  him  he  should 
not,  with  all  possible  earnestness  and  emphasis,  until, 
seeing  escape  from  him  was  impossible,  I  told  him  I 
would  not  pay  him.  He  followed,  however,  occasion- 
ally getting  a  stroke  at  them  until  he  thought  them  pol- 
ished sufficiently  to  justify  a  claim  for  pay.  He  then 
began  to  beg  ;  I  was  unconcerned  for  a  long  w^iile,  wish- 
ing to  see  how  long  he  would  hold  out ;  he  probably 
would  have  stayed  until  night  had  not  a  stranger  stand- 
ing by  slapped  him  over,  or  had  I  not  left. 

But  to  have  any  fair  estimate  of  Port  Said  one  must 
see  it.  On  the  greatest  thoroughfare  of  the  world  it  has 
caught  up  many  of  the  worst  of  travellers'  habits.  It 
would  be  a  great  strategic  point  for  missionary  opera- 
tions. 

The  great  iron-clads  of  France,  England  and  Turkey, 
that  lie  in  waiting  there  continually  for  any  safety  their 
commerce  may  demand,  teach  us  that  we  too,  as  a 
church  or  churches,  should  occupy  and  defend  inter- 
■ests  dearer  than  all  else. 

At  last  the  Venus  is  ready  to  sail  to  Joppa  and  with 
regret  we  cast  a  last  look  upon  old  Egypt,  wonderful  in 
rivers  and  ruins,  people  and  pyramids,  an  atmosphere 
translucent,  a  desert  more  awful  if  not  sublime  than 
mountains  or  ocean,  a  sky  in  a  peculiar  sense   "inlaid 


117 


with  patens  of  bright  gold,"  and   gardens  as  fertile  as 
Eden. 

"Egypt,  to  which  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful  went' 
when  the  ftimine  was  sore  in  his  land  ;  to  which  Joseph  was 
sold  ;  and  to  which  the  sons  of  Jacob  went  as  their  great-grand 
father,  Abraham,  had  done  before,  because  there  was  corn  in 
Egypt ;  and  to  which  pious  Jacob  followed  captive  Benjamin  to 
receive  an  imperial  welcome  from  long  lost  Joseph;  Egypt 
where  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  bondage  four  hundred 
years.  Egypt,  birthplace  of  Moses,  whose  life  voyage  began  on 
the  Nile,  in  an  ark  of  bulrushes  ;  scene  of  most  wonderful  dis- 
plays of  Jehovah's  power,  when  river  and  air,  sea  and  sky  trem- 
bled with  horror  as  an  earthly  potentate  refused  to  obey  the  In- 
finites' command,  "Let  my  people  go";  whence  he  brought  them 
out  with  a  high  hand  and  an  outstretched  arm  ;  Egypt,  which 
in  the  long  history  of  Israel  till  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man 
was  so  intimately  associated  for  good  or  for  evil  with  God's 
chosen  people  that  Dean  Stanley  calls  it  "the  mother  country'' 
of  Palestine,  and  which  at  last  was  a  refuge  for  the  Saviour  of 
the  world  when  "He  came  unto  His  own,  and  His  own  received 
Him  not.'  -  Egypt,  fRreweUr—Ohservations  Abroad. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  OLDEST  SEAPORT 


Standing  with  fifty  or  sixty  other  passengers  on  deck 
■of  the  steamship  Venus,  of  the  Austrian  Lloyd  Line, 
on  March  the  5th,  the  first  gray  streaks  of  dawn  reveal- 
ed to  us  the  lowlying  country  of  Philistia  to  the  south- 
east and  the  ashy  colored  range  of  Judean  hills  stretch- 
ing away  to  Mt.  Carmel  in  the  north  and  to  Hebron  in 
the  south.  What  feelings  of  mingled  joy  and  thankful- 
ness filled  each  heart  in  anticipation  of  what  la}^  before 
us.  We  were  so  soon  now  to  make  our  way  across 
those  mountains  to  that  city  of  all  earthly  ones  most 
dear  to  Jew  and  Christian,  and  only  second  in  sacredness 
to  the  Mussulman. 

I  was  profoundly  grateful  that  the  fond  hopes  of  many 
years  were  so  soon  to  find  full  fruition ;  that  I  should 
have  the  privilege  of  visiting  the  land  made  sacred  by 
the  footsteps  of  the  Son  of  God  and  some  of  the  places 
once  so  dear  to  him  ;  that  my  feet  should  press  the  soil 
once  trodden  by  him  as  he  toiled  and  taught. 

With  reverence  new  we  hail  this  giant  among  the 
continents — oldest  yet  least  understood — holding  half 
of  the  human  race ;  birthplace  of  races,  religions,  su- 
perstitions. Here  "tenacious  Judaism,  progressive  and 
spiritual  Christianity;"  indomitable,  insolent  Moham- 
etanism,  Budhism,  Confucianism  and  other  isms  began. 

If  God  ever  spake  to  man  in  the  vocabulary  of  earth, 
to  tell  of  an  infinite  love  and  a  glorious  destiny,  and 


120 

how  to  attain  unto  the  fullest  measure  of  life  for  time 
and  eternity,  it  was  beneath  yon  skies  into  which  we 
look,  under  which  we  soon  shall  stand.  No  marvel  if 
excitement  thrills  in  every  face,  in  every  act. 

VCe  are  not  of  the  majority  who  at  this  season  rough 
seas  deny  a  landing.  The  fear  we  all  had  of  not  being 
able  to  land,  was  dispelled,  and  increased  our  pleasure 
at  seeing  our  ship  drop  anchor  in  the  oldest  and  worst 
of  seaports — whence  Jonah  sailed  when  he  had  such  a 
bad  landing,  and  wliither  the  wood  that  went  into  Solo- 
mon's temple  viRS  shipped.  Our  crew  was  a  medley  ot 
Americans,  Britons,  French,  Germans,  Italians,  Rus- 
sians, Turks,  Arabs,  Copts  and  Ethiopians — Christians, 
Jews  and  Mohammedans — Tourists,  Pilgrims,  Scientists, 
Preachers,  Teachers,  Doctors  and  Merchants. 

At  sunrise  the  ship's  great  heart  ceases  to  beat  at 
Joppa.  Her  coming  was  anticipated,  as  evidenced  by  a 
score  of  boats  manned  by  athletic  Arabs  hurrying  over 
the  swelling  sea  in  their  eagerness  to  secure  customers. 
Some  of  them  fly  red  flags  with  the  names  of  H.  Gaze 
&  Co.,  Thos.  Cook  &  Son,  and  RoUa  Floyd,  in  letters  of 
w^hite.  These  have  come  out  for  those  tourists  who  may 
be  traveling  under  their  auspices. 

Rolla  Floyd,  with  whom  we  stopped,  is  a  Yankee  by 
birth,  but  confines  himself  to  Palestine,  while  the  names 
of  the  other  tw^o  are  seen  around  the  w^orld.  Both  have 
headquarters  in  London,  and  are  very  necessary  to  those 
tourists  who  prefer  to  pay  others  for  fighting  their  way 
through  Italians,  Arabs,  Chinese  and  Japs,  and  for  im- 
munity from  the  responsibilities  and  security  against  the 
contingencies  incident  upon  travel  in  strange  lands. 

From  our  ship  about  half  a  mile  from  shore,  we  watch 
the  waves  rushing  in  by   the  classic  rocks,  to  one  of 


121 

which  m}'1;hology  says  the  beautiful  Andromeda,  on 
account  of  Juno's  jealousy,  was  chained,  and  rescued  by 
Perseus,  becoming  afterwards  his  bride.  After  death 
she  was  translated  to  heaven,  where  she  still  occupies  a 
place  in  the  constellation  with  her  mother  Cassiope. 
They  wash  the  shore  at  the  very  base  of  the  house  of 
Simon  the  tanner,  where  Peter  lodged  and  saw  the  won- 
derful sheet  let  down  from  heaven,  containing  "all  man- 
ner of  four-footed  beasts  and  wild  beasts,  and  creeping 
things  and  fowls  of  the  air,"  revealing  to  his  then  too 
narrow  mind  the  wideness  of  God's  mercy  in  the  Gospel 
dispensation,  which  is  as  the  "wideness  of  the  sea,"  and 
marvellously  enlarging  his  idea  of  a  preacher's  mission. 
On  the  top  of  which,  or  one  in  its  place,  I  afterward 
went  myself;  and  in  order  to  be  sure  of  standing  where 
Peter  did,  if  he  did,  went  all  over  it.  From  this  stand- 
point one  sees  the  "great  sea"  stretch  far  away  north, 
west  and  south.  Peter's  eye  no  doubt  swept  that  hori- 
zon in  meditation,  and  watched  the  restless  tides  that 
beat  upon  that  rocky  shore,  typifying  the  human  hordes 
that  had  swept  over  Judea's  hills  and  plains  before  and 
since  the  days  of  Noah. 

"Monarclis  of  Palestine,  and  Kings  of  Tyre, 

And  tlie  brave  Maccabee  have  all  been  here; 

And  Cestius,  with  his  Roman  plunderers; 

And  Saladin  and  Baldwin,  and  the  host 

Of  fierce  crusaders,  from  the  British  north, 

And  shook  their  swords  above  thee,  and  their  blood 

Flowed  down  like  water  to  thine  ancient  sea." 

So  we  will  go  ashore.  We  will  land  here  whence  Jonah 
sailed,  on  a  firmer  footing  than  he  found  on  quitting 
his  bark.     We  wish  to  tread  the  soil  of  the  Holy  Land. 

I  am  in  the  Holy  Land  !     What  revelations  await  m}' 


122 

journey  through  it !  Sweet  were  the  optimistic  dreams 
of  her  inspired  seers.  Shall  the  sweet  waters  of  Cherith 
brook  or  Siloe's  "that  flowed  fast  by  the  oracle  of  God,'' 
or  skies  of  marvelous  softness,  or  the  hills  made  sacred 
by  the  presence  and  frequent  discourses  of  our  Lord 
cause  me  to  experience  a  kindred  enlargement  and  make 
me  still  more  hopeful  of  the  strife? 

I  am  going  to  "walk  about  Zion  and  go  round  about 
her,  tell  the  towers  thereof,  mark  well  her  bulwarks, 
consider  her  palaces,  that  I  m\y  return  and  tell  it  to  the 
generation  following."  Will  I  feel  as  the  Psalmist  did? 
And  if  I  do  not,  nor  witness  the  sights  so  dear  to  him, 
nor  feel  the  confidence  in  the  supremacy  and  final  uni- 
versal racial  triumph  of  Israel  that  her  |)rophets  di  , 
conclude  that  these  leaders  in  happy,  sanguine  hours 
were  only  overwhelmed  with  self-gratulation  at  their 
own  providential  election  and  dazed  by  hoi)es  impossi- 
ble of  realization,  shall  I  doubt  the  stability  of  the  Di- 
vine government  that  for  the  present  seems  to  be  taking 
small  cognizance  of  the  chosen  race  ? 

Has  fancy  woven  a  web  now  to  b^  \mraveled  ?  Has 
imagination  reveled  in  a  vista  to  fade  when  entered  like 
the  mirage?  Shall  the  reverence  and  divine  poesy  that 
have  ever  clustered  about  the  names  of  Judea,  Jerusa- 
lem, Hebron,  Galilee  and  Nazareth  be  dispelled?  Shall 
the  halo  that  has  ever  encircled  the  Holy  Land,  cutting 
it  ofi"  from  all  others,  vanish  into  thin  air  and  leave  it 
to  be  merged  into  the  vast  community  of  countries,  and 
so  make  me  loser  of  the  inheritance  of  all  my  Christian 
life,  until  I  shall  regret  the  knowledge  that  increases  my 
sorrow  and  the  wealth  that  is  worse  than  poverty  ?  Shall 
I  discover  some  of  the  "mistakes  of  Moses  ?"  And  see 
how  that  after  all  he  did  not  lead  the  Israelites  hither? 


128 

Shall  I  see  that  much  blindness'^  and  natural  environ- 
ment conduce  to  ocular  delusion?  And  find  facts 
favorable  to  doubting  if  not  denying  the  probability  of 
miracle  ?  Especially  that  greatest  of  miracles  the  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  ?  Which  stands  out  before  the 
hopes  of  millions  like  a  colossal  tower,  where  they  can 
shelter  when  the  storms  of  life  beat  tempestuously  about 
them  and  floods  of  adversity  threaten  to  engulf  them — 
whose  wholesome  shade  protects  them  when  solstitia]^ 
suns  dry  up  all  the  flowers  that  bloom  along  their  path 
and  wither  all  the  green  branches  of  earthly  prospects — 
a  tower  pointing  heavenward,  around  whose  spiral  stair 
hope  ascends,  till  the  din  of  earthly  strife  dies  out  be- 
low and  the  child  of  sorrow  has  all  his  tears  and  fears 
dispelled  ? 

But  "we  shall  see  what  we  shall  see."  1  will  gain 
what  I  may  from  the  land  as  well  as  from  the  Book; 
and  if  not  in  this  mountain,  nor  yet  in  Jerusalem  the 
true  worshipers  worship  the  Father,  some  dormant  sen- 
timent may  be  awakened,  some  active  power  intensified. 
I  may  learn  from  the  lilies  of  the  field  ;  the  thorny, 
stony,  rich  ground,  the  faithful  shepherd,  with  ever  im- 
perilledj  flockf.  I  will  note  the  barren  and  fruitful  fig 
tree;  the  fisherman  and  his  nets;  the  ever  waiting 
penny -a-day  laborers ;  the  fountain  open  in  time  of 
drouth.     I  will  read  the  words  of  the  Book,  as  nearly 

*Three  per  cf-nt.  of  the  population  are  blind,  and  twenty  per  cent,  have 
injured  eyes.  Because  of  the  scarcity  of  water  they  seldom,  if  ever,  wash. 
I  never  saw  a  washpan  or  basin  in  an  Arab  bazaar  while  among-  them, 
and  the  same  customs  are  followed  to  a  large  extent  as  in  the  Savior's 
time,  I  think.  I  judge  it  was  their  custom  not  to  use  much  water  gener- 
ally. They  also  wear  turbans  or  hats  without  brims,  and  the  sun  Is  very 
hot.  No  doubt  for  these  reasons  there  was  about  as  much  blindness  then 
as  now 

:!:We  saw  a  boy  drive  a  fox  from  his  flock  one  day  about  noon.  He  ran 
towards  us  and  turned  down  the  hill  and  hid  under  the  rocks,  where  "the 
foxes  have  holes,"  in  sight  of  Jerusalem. 

tAt  night  the  flocks  are  put  into  pens  made  of  stone,  over  which  it  is 
difficult  or  impossible  for  foxes  and  jackals  to  climb.  Sometimes  they  are 
put  in  large  caves  under  the  hillside,  and  the  shepherd  sleeps  in  the  cave's 
mouth. 


124 


as  I  may  where  they  were  spoken,  and  study  from  all 
possible  standpoints  the  ways  of  God  to  man.  and  from 
my  treasury  thus  replenished,  bring  to  my  Master's  ser- 
vice as  much  as  I  mav,  things  new  and  old. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


FROM  JOPPA  TO  JERUSALEM. 

The  last  chapter  relates  our  emotions  on  entering  Pal- 
estine. We  halt  a  clay  at  Joppa  to  visit  Simon  the  tan- 
ner's house  referred  to  in  Acts,  chapter  10,  and  the  fine 
orange  groves,  of  which  there  are  many  producing  about 
8,000,000  a  year  valued  at  about  one  mctterlich  (1  cent) 
each.  Probably  no  larger  or  sweeter  are  grown  any- 
where. Self-indulgence,  freed  from  domestic  economy 
expands  in  the  stingy  traveler,  we  freely  tested  Joppa 
oranges  and  pronounce  them  first  class. 

There  are  two  good  mission  schools  and  a  hospital  in 
Christian  hands  which  we  visited.  Miss  Arnott  has 
given  her  fortune  and  her  life  to  teaching  young  Arab 
girls  how  to  become  Christian  wives  and  mothers.  We 
can  testify  to  the  efficiency  of  her  efforts  from  exhibi- 
itions  of  her  pupils  on  the  occasion  of  our  visit. 

Rev.  J.  R.  Long  has  a  male  school  under  his  control. 

Miss  Bessie  Mangan  succeeded  in  founding  what  is 
known  as  the  Mildmay  Hospital,  where  hundreds  have 
been  nursed  and  thousands  treated,  including  Jews,  Mos- 
lems, Greeks,  Latins  and  Maronites.  We  noted  the  po- 
liteness and  attention  of  the  deaconesses,  the  contented- 
ness  of  the  patients  and  the  promise  of  the  whole  insti- 
tution as  an  agent  for  our  Lord  and  tor  poor  humanity. 

The  road  from  Joppa  to  Jerusalem  is  almost  a  perfect 
road.  It  passes  Ramleh,  the  home  of  Joseph  of  Arima- 
thea  (?)  Bareh  or  Gibeah,  the  Valley  of  Ajalon,  where 


126 

Joshua  commanded  the  smi  and  moon  to  stand  still  un- 
til he  vanquished  the  Philistines,  Ajalon  belonged  to 
Dan,  Josh.  19:42.  We  stopped  to  dine  at  Latrum  about 
half  way  to  Jerusalem:  It  is  traditionally  held  to  be 
the  home  of  the  penitent  thief,  who  was  said  to  be 
named  Disma  and  a  robber  of  travelers.  Latro  is  Latin 
for  robber  and  no  doubt  Latrum  was  the  home  of  this  or 
some  other  robber.  Abou  Josch  or  Kirjath-jearim  is 
about  nine  miles  from  Jerusalem.  Here  the  Ark  of 
God  rested  20  years.  The  name  signifies  city  of  woods  ' 
it  is  in  a  semi-circular  cove  of  the  hills,  somewhat  like 
an  amphitheatre.  I  felt  strange  emotions  as  I  read  I 
Chron.  13:5  :  "David  gathered  all  Israel  together  from  Shi- 
hor  of  Egypt  even  unto  the  entering  of  Hemath.  to  bring 
the  ark  of  God  from  Kirjath-jearim/'  and  Ps.  132:6—8: 

"Lo,  we  heard  of  it  at  Ephratah  ;  we  found  it  in  the 
fields  of  the  wood. 

We  will  go  into  his  tabernacles ;  we  will  worship  at 
his  footstool. 

Arise,  0  Lord,  into  thy  rest;  thou,  and  the  Ark  of  thy 
strenojth." 

AVhat  a  multitude  of  people,  all  rejoicing  with  their 
king  as  they  move  along  towards  Jerusalem. 

Perhaps  the  procession  was  many  miles  long.  Sud- 
denly they  pause  at  the  front.  What  is  the  matter?  A 
man  falls  dead.  Uzza,  ignorant  of  the  command  of  God, 
showing  the  sole  manner  of  carrying  the  ark,  when  he 
thought  to  save  it  from  falling  from  the  cart,  is  struck 
dead  for  his  rashness,  and  unutterable  confusion  ensues. 
David  is  chagrined  ;  everybody  disappointed  and  afraid 
to  meddle  further,  and  ignorant  of  the  plainest  direction, 
they  leave  the  Ark  at  the  home  of  Obed  Edom,  where 
it  stayed  for  three  months,  in  which  time  David  and  the 


127 

priests  read  up  a  little,  and  had  better  success  in  mov- 
inir  it.  The  next  place  of  interest  is  Kalomeh,  near 
which  it  is  claimed  John  the  Baptist  was  born,  and 
southwest  of  which  is  a  Valley,  Wacbj  es  Sumpt,  in  whicli 
tradition  says  David  slew  Gohath.  In  another  hour  we 
reach  Jerusalem  and  stop  at  the  Jerusalem  hotel,  about 
five  minutes  walk  from  the  Joppa  gate  and  the  tower  of 
David. 

Wp:dnesj)ay  Evening,  March  Gth. 

Rev.  C.  D.  Merrill,  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  Cah- 
fornia,  with  whom  I  had  traveled  through  Egypt,  and 
myself  contracted  with  Isa  (Esau)  Lobat  to  take  us  to 
Jericho,  Jordan,  the  Dead  Sea,  Marsaba  and  Bethlehem, 
returning  to  Jerusalem  the  third  day,  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  francs,  about  thirty  dollars.  We  set  out  after 
12  o'clock  lunch  the  next  day.  A  good  donkey  and 
donkey  boy  carried  provisions,  and  a  guard  with  a  belt 
full  of  cartridges  and  a  fine  breech  loading  rifle  repre- 
sented the  Ottoman  empire  protecting  her  guests.  We 
had  good  horses  shod  with  an  oval  piece  of  sheet-iron, 
without  heels  or  toes,  so  shaped  as  to  present  to  the  road 
a  convex  surface,  a  rocker,  four  very  large  nails  on  each 
side   held  them  on.  thus  all  their  horses  are  shod. 

We  go  out  of  Jerusalem  on  the  north  side,  and  under 
the  hill  now  supposed  to  be  the  hill  Calvary,  by  the 
place  where  tradition  says  Stephen  was  stoned,  cross  the 
Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  pass  the  garden  of  Gethsemane 
and  near  to  Absalom's  pillar  (tomb)  up  the  south  side 
of  Olivet,  through  the  Jewish  cemetery,  where  one  could 
walk  over  ten  or  twenty  acres  on  tombs  without  touching 
the  ground,  over  the  spot  where,  it  is  thought,  Jesus  wept 
over  the  city,  by  two  large  stone  columns  supposed  to  be 


128 

the  remnant  of  the  house  of  Simon  the  Leper.  Then  to 
Bethany  on  the  east  side  of  the  hill,  where  a  little  house 
built  of  limestone  is  shown  as  the  house  of  Mary  and 
Martha,  now  kept  for  backsheesh.  We  came  in  an  hour 
to  the  Apostles'  fountain,  and  in  two  hours  to  an  inn  or 
khan,  where  it  is  claimed  the  good  Samaritan  deposited 
the  unfortunate  traveler  and  two  pence  for  his  support. 
We  are  going  down  to  Jericho  over'  the  remains  of  the 
old  Roman  road  over  which,  no  doubt,  Herod  once 
could  ride  in  a  chariot,  though  it  does  not  look  as  if  it 
were  ever  good  enough  for  that.  We  meet  ''robbers"  (?) 
every  mile  or  so.  About  the  middle  of  the  afternoon 
we  reach  the  ravine  that  contains  the  brook  Cherith, 
where  Elisha  lived  in  troublous  times.  And  the  word  of 
the  Lord  came  unto  him,  saying :  "  Get  thee  hence,  and 
turn  thee  eastward,  and  hide  thyself  by  the  brook  Cher- 
ith, that  is  before  Jordan.  And  it  shall  be,  that  thou 
shalt  drink  of  the  brook;  and  I  have  commanded  the 
ravens  to  feed  thee  there.  So  he  went  and  did  accord- 
ingfunto  the  word  of  the  Lord  :  for  he  went  and  dwelt 
by  the  brook  Cherith,  that  is  before  Jordan.  And  the 
ravens  brought  him  bread  and  flesh  in  the  morning,  and 
bread  and  flesh  in  the  evening ;  and  he  drank  of  the 
brook  "  ;  the  sides  of  the  gorge  often  show  perpendicular 
faces  many  hundred  feet  high.  Isa  said  the  Greeks  had 
built  a  church  on  the  supposed  site  of  Elisha's  repose. 
We  reined  up  our  horses  and  could  hear  the  brook  leap- 
ing over  cataracts,  going  down  to  Jcicho  too.  Herod 
the  Great  conducted  this  stream  through  an  aqueduct  to 
the  imperial  city  of  Jericho.  Portions  of  this  aqueduct 
still  remain,  though  Jericho  abides  under  the  curse  of 
Joshua  till  to-day  ;  not  a  house  remains.  About  sunset, 
having  descended  nearly  four  thousand  feet  since  noon, 


129 

we  crossed  Cherith,  paused  and  drank  of  its  sweet, 
limpid  waters,  rode  two  miles  farther  to  Elisha's  Fomi- 
tain,  whose  waters,  bitter  no  more,  are  very  warm,  say 
80°  Fah.  We  went  about  a  mile  farther  through  fra- 
grant thorny  shrubbery  growing  on  the  banks  of  the 
stream  from  Elijah's  Fountain,  and  said  to  yield  the 
fruit  from  which  is  made  "balm  of  Gilead,"  and  rest  at 
the  Russian  Hospice  on  the  site  of  ancient  Gilgal.  We 
retire  amid  the  howls  of  jackals  and  the  miserable  music 
and  dancing  of  the  Bedouins  AAdio 

"Vex  with  mirth  the  drowsy  ear  of  night," 

to  the  delight  of  another  party  of  tourists  near  by.  We 
rise  early  next  morning,  ride  across  the  plain  to  Jordan, 
by  the  same  way,  perhaps,  the  spies  went  when  Rahab 
sent  them  off,  to  the  place  where  Jesus  Avas  baptized 
possibly.  Multitudes  of  pilgrims  come  here  every  year 
to  be  baptized.  Here  the  Israelites  catered  the  prom- 
ised land,  while  the  waters  of  Jordan  stood  on  a  heap, 
here  Jordan  was  parted  again  when  Elijah  passed  over 
to  be  carried  to  heaven  in  a  chariot  of  fire.  On  the  way 
we  saw  two  women  grinding  corn  or  wheat  in  a  mill. 
The  Jordan  was  muddy,  rapid,  deep,  and  about  two 
hundred  feet  wide.  We  cut  some  pipe  stems  and  canes 
and  proceeded  to  the  Dead  Sea.  I  did  not  notice  any- 
thing specially  differing  from  other  lakes  of  water,  except 
its  very  bitter  saltness,  almost  as  strong  to  the  taste  as 
potash.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  sterility.  Some  parties 
went  bathing  in  it,  but  we  did  not,  as  it  leaves  a  gum 
upon  one's  cuticle,  which  is  very  unpleasant  unless  one 
bathes  afterwards  in  fresh  water,  which  we  did  not  have. 
We  had  provided  bottles  and  filled  them  with  water 
here,  and  bathed  the  hands  and  face. 


131 

The  great  depression  of  this  funnel-shaped  basin' 
under  a  Meridian  sun,  (1292  feet  below  the  Mediterran- 
ean sea)  made  it  so  warm  that  we  had  to  take  off  our 
coats,  but  the  same  afternoon,  having  left  the  valley,  we 
were  in  a  hail  and  rain  storm  up  in  the  mountains  that 
gave  us  severe  colds. 

Tiie  face  of  the  hill  country  is  covered  with  beautiful 
flowers  in  the  greatest  variety.  I  am  not  botanist 
enough  to  name  them,  but  enjoyed  their  fragrance  and 
beauty  no  less  on  that  account.  Thousands  of  bees 
carry  ofl'  to  the  rocks  that  crown  every  hill  the  nectar 
from  their  cups,  and  herds  of  cows,  sheep  and  goats 
browse  through  them  to  their  hearts'  content.  It  is  still 
a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 

We  noticed  a  great  many  piles  of  stone  by  the  way- 
side, our  guide  said  they  were  "  Moslem  prayers,"  offered 
up  in  sight  of  a  mosque  or  wely  (tomb);  often  twenty 
stones  made  an  irregular  pillar,  each  stone  representing 
an  act  of  worship. 

A  caravan  of  sixty  donkeys  laden  with  about  four  or 
five  bushels  of  wheat  each,  and  about  twenty  drivers, 
passed  us  going  to  Bethlehem  to  market.  These  patient 
little  animals  never  stumble,  even  on  the  most  rugged 
hill-side  in  the  most  tortuous  path,  even  with  a  burden 
as  heavy  as  his  own  weight  upon  his  back.  The  "latter 
rain"  was  falling,  and  our  guide  said  that  the  rain  that 
day  would  depress  the  price  of  wheat  half  a  franc,  or 
ten  cents,  for,  said  he,  "this  rain  will  about  insure  a 
good  crop."  We  spent  the  night  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Saba.  It  is  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  rocks  on  one  side  of 
the  gorge  (Kedron)  several  hundred  feet  deep.  St.  Saba 
is  said  to  have  lived  in  a  cave,  which  is  shown  here^ 
with  a   lion,   the  austere  life    of  an  old    monk.      His 


132 

friends  and  followers  continued  to  build  around  the 
little  nucleus  until  at  last  a  most  wonderful  structure 
built  of  hewn  stones  and  polished  stones,  stands  there 
to  shelter  a  score  of  lazy,  greasy  Greek  Priests,  who  live 
on  bread  and  olives.  No  woman  is  ever  supposed 
to  pass  within  the  gates.  When  we  reached  the  iron 
portal  of  the  castle,  heav}'  showers  were  driven  by  a 
north-west  wind.  We  carried  a  permit  from  the  Patri- 
arch of  Jerusalem,  which  gained  admission  for  us,  after 
waiting  an  incredibly  long  time  in  the  merciless  rain. 
Dr.  Thompson  thus  describes  his  first  visit  to  this  castle 
or  convent : 

"We  entered  through  a  low  iron  door,  turned  round  through 
a  second  door,  then  down  again  by  winding  stairs,  across  queer 
■courts  and  along  dark  passages,  until  we  reached  at  length  our 
rooms,  hanging  between  cliffs  thai  towered  to  the  stars,  or 
seemed  to,  and  yawning  gulfs  which  darkness  made  bottomless 
and  dreadful,  I  was  struck  dumb  with  astonishment.  It  was 
a  transition  sudden  and  unexpected,  from  the  wild  mountain  to 
the  yet  wilder,  more  vague  and  mysterious  scenes  of  Oriental 
enchantment.  Light  gleamed  out  fitfully  from  hanging  rocks 
■and  doubtful  caverns.  Winding  stairs,  with  balustrade  and  iron 
rail,  ran  right  up  the  perpendicular  cliffs  into  rock  chambers, 
where  the  solitary  monk  was  drowsily  muttering  his  midnight 
prayers.  It  was  long  after  that  hour  before  sleep  visited  my 
■eyes,  and  then  my  dreams  were  of  Arabs,  and  frightful  chasms, 
and  enchanted  castles." 

One  of  the  tenants  show^ed  us  about  the  labyrinth. 
There  is  a  chapel  built  and  dedicated  to  St.  Nicholas, 
one  to  St.  Saba  and  St.  John  and  the  Virgin  Mary.  In 
the  court-yard  is  St.  Saba's  octagonal  mausoleum.  They 
showed  us,  also,  a  room  full  of  skulls — fourteen  thou- 
sand human  skulls — slain  by  the  Persian  King  Chosrces 
II,  when  he  stormed  and  took  this  stronghold  A.  D.  616. 

They  show,  growing  b\'   the  walls,   a  palm  tree  that 


133 

has  miraculous  power  in  certain  cases,  they  say.  We 
bought  beads,  canes  and  porcupine  quills  of  them  and 
departed  to  Bethlehem. 

We  go  through  the  borders  of  the  fields  of  the  shep- 
herds, reaching  the  city  about  noon. 

On  the  spot  where  it  is  claimed  and  conceded  our 
Lord  was  born  is  a  Christian  church,  the  oldest  in  the 
world,  in  part.  A  silver  star  marks  the  place,  and  this 
inscription  in  latin  is  around  the  star,  "Here  Jesus 
Christ  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,"  and  a  m.arble 
manger,  the  place  where  they  laid  him,  is  near  by. 

Above  these,  four  rows  of  lamps  of  silver  and  gold 
burn  night  and  day — one  row  for  each  of  the  four  de- 
nominations of  Christians  (Greeks,  Catholics,  Copts  and 
Armenians)  to  which  this  church  belongs.  They  all 
have  chapels  in  the  church,  and  all  worship  there  every 
Sabbath  and  occasionally  on  week  days.  I  witnessed  a 
funeral  conducted  by  the  Coptic  Christians.  It  was  one 
of  six  children  that  had  died  with  measles  that  day. 
The  little  corpse  was  laid  on  the  cold  marble  floor.  The 
Priest  and  friends  were  standing  in  a  circle  around  it, 
performing  the  last  offices  due  its  mortal  remains. 

We  went  through  the  chapel  of  Joseph,  where  it  is 
said  the  angel  appeared  to  Joseph  and  advised  him  to 
go  into  Egypt. 

St.  Jerome's  chamber  is  shown  here,  and  he  is  repre- 
sented with  a  lion  in  a  stained  glass  window.  Here  he 
studied  and  translated  the  Vulgate. 

"All  about  us  were  memorials  of  the  Gospel  history,  and  va- 
rious altars — one  devoted  to  the  Magi,  another  to  the  shepherds 
and  another  to  Joseph — on  the  spot  where  they  had  adored  the 


134 

Holy  Child,  or  received  divine  commands.  Taking  all  the  cir- 
cumstances into  the  account,  and  comparing  the  little  that  can 
be  said  against  the  authenticity  of  this  site  with  the  very  pow- 
erful consideration  in  its  favor,  I  relinquished  myself  to  the 
reverential  emotions  which  the  belief  that  I  was  in  the  very 
spot  where  the  infant  Saviour  lay  would  naturally  inspire  in  the 
heart  of  a  Christian.''— O^serra^ion-s  Abroad. 

In  Bethlehem  Boaz  lived,  and  near  by  Ruth  gleaned. 
Here  David  was  brought  up.  Here  is  the  "well  bj^  the 
gate,"  whose  w^ater  he  longed  for,  and  poured  out  w^hen 
he  might  have  enjo3^ed  it,  because  it  was  ''the  blood  of 
the  men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of  their  lives."  The 
people  are  brighter  as  in  all  the  towns,  and  nearly  all 
are  Christians,  nominally.  They  call  their  town  Beit 
Lahm — that  is,  city  of  bread.  It  is  well  named,  for 
their  fields  are  very  lertile  and  their  olive  orchards  sel- 
dom fail.  It  is  well  named  further,  because  it  gave  to 
the  world  Him  who  is  the  ''bread  of  life"  for  the  world. 
It  is  also  claimed  that  the  flock  over  which  the  shep- 
herds were  keeping  watch  was  the  one  from  which 
sacrifices  were  obtained. 

"And  there  were  in  the  same  country  shepherds 
abiding  in  the  field,  keeping  watch  over  their  flock  by 
night;  and,  lo,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  came  upon  them, 
and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shone  round  about  them,  and 
they  were  sore  afraid.  And  the  angel  said  unto  them, 
fear  not,  for  behold  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great 
joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people,  for  unto  you  is  born 
this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ 
the  Lord,  and  this  shall  be  a  sign  unto  you;  ye  shall 
find  the  babe  wTapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  lying  in  a 
manger.  And  suddenly  there  was  with  the  angel  a 
multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  praising  God  and  say- 
ing :  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace, 


135 

good  will  toward  men.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  the 
angels  were  gone  away  from  them  into  heaven,  the  shep- 
herds said  one  to  another,  let  us  now  go  even  unto  Beth- 
lehem and  see  this  thing  which  is  come  to  pass  which 
the  Lord  hath  made  known  to  us.  And  they  came  with 
haste  and  found  Mary  and  Joseph  and  the  child  lying 
in  a  manger." — Luke  2:  8-15. 

Spending  a  few  hours  here,  we  proceeded  to  Jerusa- 
lem through  a  heavy  shower  of  the  '"latter  rain."  pass- 
ing on  the  way  the  tomb  of  Rachel,  where  Jacob  buried 
her  when  Benjamin  was  born,  "near  to  Ephratah,  the 
same  is  Bethlehem."  We  go  through  the  plains  of 
Rephaim,  where  David  "fetched  a  compass  and  came 
upon  the  Philistines,  over  against  the  mulberry  trees,'' 
passing  the  "well  of  the  star,"  and  in  sight  of  the  "val- 
ley of  Roses"  on  the  way.  We  reach  Jerusalem  before 
night  on  the  third  day,  having  visited  Jericho,  Jordan, 
the  Dead  Sea  and  Bethlehem,  and  traveled  about  sixty 
miles. 

The  following  Monday  we  went  to  Hebron,  eighteen 
miles  south  of  Jerusalem,  passing  Solomon's  pools 
about  half  way  between  the  tAVO  cities.  One  of  these 
is  582  feet  long,  210  feet  wide  and  50  feet  deep ;  the 
other  two  are  a  little  smaller.  These  supply  the  city 
with  water  through  aqueducts  made  of  stone  and 
mortar. 

By  noon  we  reached  Hebron.  Here  we  saw  grape 
vines  doubtless  similar  to  those  that  flourished  in  the 
days  of  Caleb  and  Joshua.  Hebron,  one  of  the  oldest 
cities  on  earth,  ranking  with  Damascus  in  antiquity,  is 
blessed  with  splendid  fountains.     We  had  come  up  to 


136 

look  at  the  parcel  of  ground  that  Abraham  bought  of 
the  sons  of  Heth  "  for  a  possession  of  a  burying-place," 
and  which  contams  the  ashes  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and 
Jacob  and  their  wives.  There  they  buried  Abraham 
and  Sarah  his  wife,  there  they  buried  Isaac  and  Rebekah 
his  wife ;  and  there  I  buried  Leah. 

This  place  is  as  sacred  to  the  Mahometans  as  to 
Christians — in  fact  they  claim  to  be  the  true  children  of 
Abraham — the  title  of  the  Hebrew^s  being  only  second, 
while  Christians  have  no  inheritance  in  him.  So  sacred 
is  the  place  that  they  do  not  venture  to  disturb  the  re- 
pose of  those  distinguished  sleepers.  Nothing  short  of  a 
mandatory  order  from  the  Sultan  can  turn  the  ke}'  that 
conceals  from  common  mortals  this  most  revered  crypt. 
We  were  shown  a  hole  in  the  wall  into  w^hich  they  told 
us  we  could  thrust  our  hands  and  touch  the  stone  under 
w^hich  lie  the  ashes  of  heroes  w^ho  led  the  race — who 
made  the  Bible,  largely;  w^ho,  without  precedents,  ex- 
emplars or  formulae,  gave  rules  for  mankind  in  the 
mere  record  of  their  experiences.  Not  being  allowed  to 
do  more  than  walk  around  the  walls  protecting  these 
men  and  women,  we  take  our  Bible  and  read  Gen.  23 
and  Gen.  50.  We  tried  to  imagine  the  mighty  hosts 
that  came  up  from  Egypt  with  the  corpse  of  Jacob  em- 
balmed. Great  man  in  life,  "Prince  of  God" — worthy 
of  the  blood  that  flows  in  thy  veins,  and  no  less  great 
in  death!  Sleep  on — who  knows  but  thy  embalmed  body 
may  yet  be  found  and  attest  anew  the  records  dear  to 
us  as  life  itself 

We  went  up  the  valley  from  Hebron  about  a  mile  to 
see  a  very  old  oak  called  "Abraham's  Oak."  It  is  in 
the  plains  of  Mamre  and  the  only  oak  about  there,  and 
if  an  oak  can  live  four  thousand  years,  may-be  this  is 


187 

the  one  under  which  Abnihiim  sat  when  the  angels 
passed  down  to  destroy  >Sodom.  If  the  sequaia  gigantea 
in  the  Mariposa  Grave  are  live  thousand  years  old,  as  is 
claimed,  may  be  this  oak  is  four  thousand.  Dr.  Thomp- 
son says :  "It  is  a  baluta,  (evergreen  oak)  26  feet  in  girth, 
and  its  thick  branches  extend  over  an  area  ninety  feet  in 
diameter."  AVe  stood  on  the  enchanted  ground  where 
Abraham  pleaded  for  the  godless  city  of  Sodom,  and 
whose  faith  in  a  faithless  people  arrested  his  pleadings 
too  soon. 

We  bought  some  of  the  acorns  that  grew  on  the  oak, 
and  photographs  of  it,  repaired  to  our  carriage  and  re- 
turned to  Jerusalem. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


MT.  CALVARY 


There  is,  and  probably  will  forever  be,  dispute  about 
locating  the  site  of  Calvary.  Two  places  lay  claims  to 
it.  One  is  a  hill  northeast  of  the  Damascus  gate,  above 
a  cave  called  Jeremiah's  grotto,  many  scholars  accept 
this  as  the  true  site.  Several  assert  that  they  were  the 
first  to  establish  the  claims  of  this  place,  but  it  is  called 
in  Jerusalem,  Gordon's  Theory.  The  place  is  covered 
with  Mohammedan  graves.  One's  first  impression  when 
shown  this  hill  is  that  it  answers  to  the  description  in 
the  Gospels,  and  being  considerably  beyond  the  city 
limits  and  still  bare,  as  if  providentially  left  so,  the  con- 
viction is  deepened.  We  append  below  some  facts  and 
suggestions  confirmatory  of  this  theory  by  the  Rev. 
Selah  Merrill,  D.  D.  LL.  D.:  (formerly  Consul.) 

"  It  is  known  that  under  the  Convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Zion 
which  is  near  the  Castle  of  Antonia,  but  on  the  opposite  side  of 
"Via  Dolorosa,"  there  is  six  or  eight  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
street,  some  remarkably  well  preserved  ancient  pavement, 
which  hundreds  of  travellers  have  visited  and  admired. 

From  certain  indications  we  are  led  to  believe  that  this  pave- 
ment was  connected  with  an  ancient  street  that  ran  in  nearly  a 
direct  line  from  Antonia  northwards  to  the  city  wall. 

The  most  important  miliary  route  of  Palestine  at  the  time  of 
Christ  was  that  which  connected  Caesarea-on-the-Sea  with  Je- 
rusalem, which  it  approached  from  the  north. 


139 

At  the  point  where  the  line  of  the  street  first  mentioned,  sup- 
posing such  a  street  to  have  existed,  touched  the  city  wall,  we 
find  an  old  gate,  closed  at  present,  but  bearing  the  significant 
name  of  "  Herod's  Gate." 

If  the  line  of  this  street  be  extended  be5^ond  this  so-called 
*'  Herod's  Gate,"  to  the  northwest,  we  shall  find  along  it  definite 
traces  of  an  old  Roman  road.  This  we  find  to  be  identical  with 
the  great  military  road  which  connected  Jerusalem  with  Caes- 
area. 

It  is  perfectly  natural  to  suppose  that  the  place  of  the  public 
execution  of  criminals  would  be  somewhere  on  the  line  of  the 
road.  Between  the  castle  and  the  fatal  spot  soldiers  who  guard- 
ed the  criminals  could  move  to  and  fro  unobstructed. 

A  little  after  this  road  leaves  the  wall  at  the  point  marked  as 
^'  Herod's  Gate  "  we  find  on  the  left  hand  a  hill  remarkable  in 
form,  noticeable  from  its  position,  and  with  which  are  connected 
some  traditions  respecting  the  execution  and  burial  of  crimi- 
nals. 

Again,  we  find  the  name  of  St.  Stephen  connected  with  the 
w^estern  slope  of  this  hill ;  here  is  the  traditional  place  of  his 
martyrdom ;  here  a  church  was  erected  to  his  memory,  which 
existed  for  nearly  eight  hundred  years,  and  of  which  remains 
have  been  unearthed  during  fiv^e  years  past. 

It  is  not  unnatural  to  suppose  that  St.  Stephen  was  executed 
at  the  place  of  the  public  execution  of  criminals.  The  theory 
that  our  Lord  was  executed  at  the  same  place  has  the  most  valid 
reasons  in  its  support. 

There  is  current  among  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem  a  tradition 
that  this  hill  was  the  place  of  stoning  the  "  Beth  Has-Sekilah  " 
mentioned  in  the  Mishna.  Likewise  another  tradition  that  this 
hill  was  the  place,  or  connected  with  the  place,  of  burial  of 
those  who  had  been  publicly  executed.  The  origin  of  these 
traditions  I  do  not  know,  nor  do  I  pretend  to  estimate  the  value 
of  them.  That  they  exist  at  all  is  curious  and — I  should  say — 
a  significant  fact,  whether  they  are  worth  little  or  much. 

In  like  manner  I  do  not  know  the  origin  of  the  name  "  Her- 
od's Gate,"  or  why  it  should  not  have  been  called  "  Solomon's 
Gate,"  or  ''  David's  Gate."  But  the  fact  that  this  name  is  found 
in  this  particular  locality  is  significant,  when  taken  in  connec- 
tion W' ith  the  other  circumstances  that  are  grouped  around  it. 

In  recent  times  or  since  it  has  been  safe  to  build  outside  Ihe 
walls,  say  within  the  last  twenty  years,  the  principal  residences 


140 

have  been  erected  on  the  west  of  the  city,  because  the  Jaffa 
road  leads  off  in  that  direction.  At  present,  however,  they  are 
being  extended  also  in  the  northwest  quarter;  but  in  the  time 
of  our  Lord  private  houses  or  villas,  surrounded  by  gardens  and 
hedges,  were  on  the  north  of  the  town  because  on  that  side 
there  was  not  only  the  great  thoroughfare  leading  to  Damascus, 
but  also  that  leading  to  Caesarea,  which  was  then  the  main  sea- 
port to  Palestine.  The  numerous  ancient  cisterns,  now  mostly 
in  ruins,  that  are  found  in  all  the  open  region  northwest  of  Je- 
rusalem show  that  that  quarter  has  been  thickly  inhabited. 

If  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  was  a  wealthy  man,  had  a  pri: 
vate  garden  near  the  city,  we  may  suppose  with  reason  that  it 
was  located  in  this  direction.  The  statement  in  John  xix.  41, 
"  in  the  place  where  He  was  crucified  there  was  a  garden  ;  and 
in  the  garden  a  new  tomb,  wherein  was  never  man  yet  laid," 
seems  to  be  verv  explicit.  If,  on  the  other  band,  we  press 
these  words  literally,  and  on  the  other  insist  that  our  Lord  was 
crucified  in  the  place  of  the  public  execution  of  criminals,  we 
make  this  place  and  the  garden  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea  to  have 
been  identical.  The  question  arises  whether  a  man  of  position 
and  wealth  would  have  a  private  garden  in  such  a  place  ?  But 
there  is  no  real  objection  to  supposing  that  the  hill-top,  which 
was  easily  accessible  from  the  roman  military  road,  might  have 
been  devoted  to  the  purpose  of  execution,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  ground  about  it  to  the  very  foot  of  its  slopes,  to  have  been 
occupied  by  private  gardens  might  have  surrounded  the  hill  on 
the  southwestern  and  northwestern  sides,  and  joined  the  Roman 
road  on  the  north. 

The  Roman  road  which  we  have  described  as  leading  to  An- 
tonia  through  or  near  "  Herod's  Gate  "  skirted  this  hill  at  the 
foot  of  its  eastern  and  northeastern  slopes.  Some  miles  farther 
north  this  road  divided,  one  branch  going  north  to  Nablous  or 
Shechem,  and  the  other  past  Beth  Horon  to  Antipatris  and 
Csesarea-on-the-Sea.  Along  this  road  Paul,  strongly  guarded 
was  taken  a  prisoner  to  Caesarea.  With  what  emotions  did  the 
prisoner,  as  he  left  the  city  and  passed  this  Golgotha  hill,  look 
up  to  the  spot  where  the  Master  had  died  upon  the  cross  ! 

In  the  absence  of  a  suitable  diagram  I  will  place  before  the 
reader  a  very  large  capital  letter  Y,  which  shall  be  inverted, 
and  the  extremities  of  its  arms  shall  touch  the  wall  of  the  city 
at  the  points  .1  and  B. 


141 


T 


A  will  represent  the  present  Damascus  Gate,  and  B  the  one 
now  closed  called  "Herod's  Gate."  A  C  D  will  represent  the 
present  Damascus  or  Nablous  road,  while  B  C  D  extended 
pretty  directly  would  touch  the  Castle  of  Antonia.  E  repre- 
sents the  Golgotha  hill,  in  which  the  Grotto  of  Jeremiah  is 
shown.  The  bottom  of  the  Y,  or  D,  will  be  understood  to  be 
towards  the  north. 

This  figure  is  not  correct,  inasmuch  as  the  lines  B  C  and  A  C 
meet  really  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  city  wall;  but 
it  was  designed  to  give  only  a  general  idea  of  the  place  we  have 
been  considering,  and  this  purpose  it  serves  sufficiently  well. 

There  is  in  the  western  face  of  this  hill  a  large  tomb,  before 
the  mouth  of  which  the  earth,  during  past  ages,  has  accumu- 
lated to  a  depth  of  six  or  eight  feet.  It  is  a  peculiar  tomb,  and 
has  suffered  somewhat  in  the  lapse  of  time,  but  from  what  re- 
mains of  it  one  would  say  that  it  was  Christian  rather  than 
Jewish  in  its  construction.  This  point  I  do  not  attempt  to  de- 
cide absolutely,  but  even  if  it  could  be  shown  to  be  certainly  of 
Christian  origin  it  would  only  show  that  the  slopes  of  this  hill 
at  a  very  early  period,  were  thought  to  be  desirable  as  a  place 
of  burial,  and  hence  we  may  suppose  that,  at  a  still  earlier  pe- 
riod, they  were  occupied  by  Jewish  tombs. 

Very  near  this  point,  still  in  the  western  slope  of  this  hill, 
there  have  been  opened  during  the  present  summer  some  very 
remarkable  Christian  tombs,  supposed  to  be  those  that  were 
built  by  the  Empress  Eudocia. 

My  object  in  what  I  have  now  written  was  merely  to  group, 
in  a  way  different  from  what  had  ever  been  done  before,  and 
likewise  in  a  more  complete  manner,  certain  facts  and  sugges- 
tions which  appear  to  me  to  be  very  reasonable  in  connection 
with  this  most  important  question.  Very  few  points  in  the 
topography  of  ancient  Jerusalem  can  be  settled  beyond  dispute  ; 
but  with  reference  to  the  site  of  Calvary  I  will  close  by  repeat- 
ing what  I  have  already  said,  namely,  that  the  strong  probabili- 


142 

ties  are  in  favor  of  regarding  the  hill  above  Jeremiah's  Grotto 
as  the  place  of  the  crucifixion  of  our  Lord." 

The  discoveries  make  by  Helena,  mother  of  Constan- 
tine,  or  said  to  have  been  made  by  her,^  satisfy  the 
Roman  Cathohcs  and  Greek  Catholics,  the  Copts  and 
Armenians,  that  where  the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
is  (which  is  within  the  present  city  walls  and  near  the 
center  of  the  city)  is  the  true  site.  The  various  stations 
occupied  by  the  friends  of  the  Saviour  on  the  occasion  of 
his  death,  are  all  marked  by  a  chapel  or  stone,  differing 
from  the  rest  of  the  pavement  of  the  floor,  in  color,  shape 
or  elevation.  Within  the  church  is  a  stone  called  the 
Unction  Stone ;  on  this  spot  they  claim  He  was  laid  to 
be  annointed  for  his  burial.  Pilgrims  from  Russia  and 
other  lands,  numbering  now  about  2,000,  kneel  and  kiss 
this  stone,  wiih  a  dozen  others  in  the  church,  one  mark- 
ing the  spot  where  He  appeared  to  Mary  Magdalene, 
another  where  John  and  Jesus'  mother  were  standing 
when  He  said,  "mother,  behold  thy  son,  and  son  behold 
thy  mother."  Then  there  is  shown  the  Holy  Sepulchre; 
millions  have  kissed  the  stones  of  it.  It  is  divided  into 
two  rooms,  an  ante-room  or  "chapel  of  the  angel,"  and 
the  sepulchre  proper.  From  the  first,  one  passes  through 
a  stone  wall  about  four  feet  thick,  through  an  arched 
door  not  over  three  feet  high  and  about  two  feet  wide. 
Inside,  the  sepulchre  is  about  five  by  seven  feet;  one 
half  is  devoted  to  a  marble  couch,  on  which  it  is  claimed 
the  Lord  lay.  The  end  farthest  from  the  door  is  held 
b}'  a  Greek  priest  who  will  sell  you  a  candle  on  Sunday 
or  on  any  other  day,  for  one  or  two  metterlichs  (2  cents). 
There  is  standing  and  kneeling  room  by  the  place  oc- 
cupied by  the  dead  for  about  four.     We  went  there 

*  First  paragraph,  chapter  17. 


143 

several  times  and  always  found  it  crowded.  The  pil- 
grims will  approach  it  upon  their  knees,  bending  down 
every  few  feet  to  kiss  the  floor.  The  Archbishop  of  the 
Greek  church  pretends  to  have  a  candle  miraculously 
lighted  from  heaven  in  this  ante-room  once  every  year. 
He  enters,  closes  the  door,  and  after  awhile  thrusts  his 
lighted  candle  through  a  hole  in  the  side,  from  which 
others  light  theirs,  and  then  light  up  the  sacred  places 
in  the  church  which  they  hasten  to  visit,  extinguishing 
the  candle  before  it  is  half  consumed,  carrying  the 
remnant  home  to  be  interred  with  their  bones. 

The  holy  sepulchre  is  built  entirely  of  marble,  and  is 
twenty-six  feet  long,  about  eighteen  broad,  and  a  little 
over  twenty  feet  high,  and  four  sets  of  lamps  of  gold  and 
silver  light  it  up  day  and  night — one  for  each  of  the  four 
sects  that  perform  service  within  the  church.  It  is  not 
claimed  that  our  Lord  lay  in  this  very  tomb,  but  only 
that  this  is  built  upon  the  identical  spot  where  the 
"Lord  lay." 

To  the  right  of  the  main  entrance  and  about  fifteen 
feet  above  the  floor  there  is  a  large  rock,  round  about 
and  above  which  is  a  chapel,  say  twenty  feet  square,  (I 
speak  from  memory).  The  stone  rises  about  two  feet 
above  the  floor  and  is  perhaps  fifteen  feet  wide.  It  has 
three  holes  in  it  and  it  is  said  that  in  them  were  placed 
the  crosses  of  Christ  and  of  the  two  thieves.  To  the  right 
of  the  centre  one  there  is  a  large  cleft  in  the  rock.  This 
they  say  was  made  when  the  rocks  were  rent. 

Then  one  is  shown  the  stock  and  pillar  to  which  the 
Savior  was  chained,  and  the  one  on  which  he  sat,  and 
immediately  underneath  the  cross,  Adam's  grave  is 
shown ;  for  they  say  it  was  needful  that  his  blood  should 
fall  on  Adam's  head.     When  this  tomb  was  pointed  out 


144 

to  Mark  Twain,  he  said  he  "wept,  because  he  was  a 
blood  relation  of  Adam." 

The  foolish  traditions  connected  with   these   sacred 
spots,  rob  them  of  that  solemnity  that  belongs  to  them, - 
and  with  the  irreconcilable  course  followed  by  the  vari- 
ous religious  sects  of  Christendom  here  and  now  is  the 
greatest  hindrance  to  Gospel  work  amongst  these  heathen. 

The  Christian  religion  in  its  w^orst  forms  is  far  superior 
to  the  best  types  of  Paganism  ;  but  what  we  wish  to  do 
is  to  make  them  see  the  same.  And  these  same  Mo- 
hammedans have  to  stand  guard  with  musket  and 
sword,  not  at  the  door  of  the  above  church,  but  within 
it,  by  the  tomb  of  Christ.  I  was  crowded  from  my 
place  one  Sabbath  to  make  room  for  Turkish  soldiers 
during  worship,  almost  within  arms  length  of  the  Sepul- 
chre, and  a  few  years  ago,  many  were  killed.  Owing  to 
suffocation  an  effort  was  made  to  escape  from  the  build- 
ing, and  the  soldiers  mistook  the  rush  for  an  attack  upon 
them,  and  began  fighting,  so  the  greatest  melee  imagin- 
able ensued,  and  three  or  four  hundred  perished ;  most 
however,  were  run  over  and  trampled  to  death.  The 
same  thing  has  occurred  since  our  visit,  except  that  it 
was  a  real  fight  originating  in  bigotry. 

The  guards  are  kept  because  the  church  is  the  joint 
property  of  four  denominations,  Greeks,  Catholics,  Ar- 
menians and  Copts,  each  of  which  wants  more  than  the 
rest  will  allow.  There  is  worship  in  the  various  chapels 
of  the  church  every  dav. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


IN  AND  ABOUT  JERUSALEM. 


March  12. — We  went  first  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  al- 
ready spoken  of  above;  see  two  tombs  near  by  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  one  of  them  called  the  tomb  of  Nicodemus, 
the  other  that  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  they  are  vaults 
cut  out  of  the  rock  on  which  the  church  is  built.  There 
is  a  chapel  in  a  cave  in  the  church,  in  which  the  Catho- 
lics say  Helena  found  the  three  crosses  on  which  Jesus 
and  the  two  thieves  were  crucified,  and  so  knew  this  to 
be  the  true  Calvary ;  the  other  locality  has  been  descri- 
bed in  the  preceding  chapter. 

On  Mt.  Zion  we  visited  the  Armenian  cathedral  ,where 
St.  James  was  beheaded,  containing  his  tomb.  The 
priest  showed  us  about  the  splendid  pile  very  graciously, 
and  sprinkled  rose  water  over  us  when  we  departed. 

We  passed  out  of  the  city  through  Zion's  gate,  to  a 
mosque  containing  David's  tomb,  and  the  so-called 
coenaculum  or  upper  room  where  Jesus  took  the  last 
supper  with  his  disciples.  The  upper  room,  about  forty 
feet  long  and  thirty  wide,  is  on  the  first  floor  about  eight 
feet  above  ground. 

Near  by  is  shown  the  house  of  Caiaphas  and  a  stone 
pillar  on  which  it  is  claimed  the  cock  sat  that  crowed  as 
the  Lord  predicted  when  Peter  so  vehemently  declared 
his  allegiance.  Here  the  stone  that  was  rolled  away 
from  the  sepulchre  by  an  angel  is  shown  in  an  Armenian 
chapel.     Near  by  are  the  Armenian  and  English  ceme- 


146 

teries.  From  this  iDoiiit  we  have  very  fine  views  of  the 
pools  of  Gihoii  on  the  southwest  of  Hiniiom  and  Hill 
of  Evil  Council  on  the  south.  Zion  is  now  plowed  as  a 
field.     Jer.  26:18.     Mic.  3:12. 

In  the  afternoon  we  went  to  Mt.  Moriah.  There  were 
several  of  us,  and  they  required  twenty  francs  admission 
fees.  Only  within  the  last  37  years  could  Christians 
enter  the  temple  akea  at  all,  and  Jews  are  still  ex- 
cluded or  exclude  themselves,  some  say,  to  avoid  stepping- 
on  the  Holy  of  Holies,  the  location  of  which  cannot  be 
identified.  Once  inside  of  the  walls  the  Jews  had  a 
limit,  where  Gentiles  had  to  pause  on  pain  of  death  ;  now 
they  are  forbidden  to  pass  the  threshold  leading  to  the 
grounds  ;  so  every  Friday  they  repair  to  the  outside  and 
w^eep  over  their  glory  departed.  We  saw  many  of  them 
the  day  we  visited  the  "Wailing  Place,"  and  a  sadder 
sight  we  have  seldom  if  ever  seen.  We  could  not  refrain 
from  tears,  as  they  read  the  old  Tes^"ameut  books,  and 
mourned  responsively.  As  these  Jews  have  come  here  to 
die,  that  they  may  be  buried  near  the  Holy  City,  oppress- 
ed by  the  sins  of  their  past  lives,  a  sense  of  their  national 
calamities,  the  contempt  of  Christian  and  Mohammedan 
superiors,  and  in  many  cases  by  extreme  poverty,  their 
woe-begone  appearance  is  well  calculated  to  call  out  our 
profound  sympathies. 

We  copy  the  following  account  of  the  Wailing  Place, 
and  the  sad  history  connected  with  it,  as  well  as  the 
habits  of  the  Jews  who  visit  it  now,  from  By-paths  of 
Bible  Knovicihje,  No.  Ill,  by  Rev.  James  King,  A.  M.: 

THE    WAILING    PLACE. 

"Proceedinof  northward  of  Barclay's  Gate,  we  come  to  an  in- 
teresting section  of  the  wall  known  as  The  Jews'  Wailing  Place, 


147 

where  the  Jews  assemble  every  Friday  afternoon.  It  is  a  small 
quadrangular  area,  roughly  paved  with  large  square  stones,, 
situated  between  low  houses  and  the  Sanctuary  wall.  It  is  fur- 
ther hemmed  in  by  walls  on  the  north  and  south  sides,  and  the 
area  itself  is  only  of  small  dimensions,  being  about  a  hundred 
feet  in  length  and  fifteen  in  breadth.  The  Temple  wall  above 
ground  at  this  spot  is  about  sixty  feet  high,  and  the  lower 
courses  of  visible  masonry  are  for  the  most  part  made  up  of 
magnificent  stones,  venerable  from  their  high  antiquity  and 
from  the  fact  that  they  are  veritable  remains  of  the  old  Jewish 
Temple.  For  many  generations,  at  least  once  a  week  the  Jews 
have  been  permitted  to  approach  the  precincts  of  their  Temple, 
and  it  is  a  touching  sight  to  see  them  manifest  aff'ection  to  the 
venerable  wall,  while  they  kiss  the  very  stones  and  bathe  them 
with  their  tears. 

'The  Psalmist's  words  were  verily  fulfilled :  'Thy  servants 
take  pleasure  in  her  stones,  and  favor  the  dust  thereof.'  Kneel- 
ing before  the  vestiges  of  their  desolate  and  dishonored  sanctu- 
ary, the  Jews  still  raise  the  wail  of  lamentation:  'God,  the 
heathen  are  come  into  Thine  inheritance,  Thy  holy  Temple 
have  they  defiled,  they  have  laid  Jerusalem  on  heaps.  .  .  . 
We  are  become  a  reproach  to  our  neighbors,  a  scorn  and  derision 
to  them  that  are  round  about  us.  How  long,  Lord?  Wilt  Thou 
be  angry  forever?  Shall  Thy  jealousy  burn  like  fire?' 

"Outside  Barclay's  Gate,  and  close  to  the  south  end  of  the 
Wailing  Place,  Sir  Charles  Warren  sank  a  shaft,  and  had  to  dig 
through  rubbish  to  the  enormous  depth  of  about  eighty  feet 
below  the  colossul  lintel,  before  he  came  to  the  foundation  of 
the  Haram  wall.  Beneath  the  surface  are  twenty-two  courses 
of  excellent  masonry,  each  course  being  from  three  to  four  feet 
in  height.  The  lowest  course  is  let  into  the  rock,  and  each 
course  is  set  back  about  half  an  inch  as  it  rises.  The  drafting  of 
the  stones  is  very  finely  executed,  and  for  delicate  finish  will 
compare  favorably  with  drafted  masonry  in  any  other  part  of 
the  Temple  enclosure. 

"During  a  recent  visit  to  Jerusalem,  after  an  examination  of 
this  part  of  the  wall,  the  author  took  up  his  position  at  the  south 
end  of  the  paved  area,  and  watched  the  appearance  and  move- 
ments of  the  increasing  crowd.  Nearest  to  him  stood  a  row  of 
women  clad  in  robes  of  spotless  white.  Their  eyes  were  bedim- 
med  with  weeping,  and  tears  streamed  down  their  cheeks  as 
they  sobbed  aloud  with  irrepressible  emotion.    Next  to  the- 


148 

women  stood  a  group  of  Pharisees — Jews  from  Poland  and  Ger- 
many. These  are  known  by  the  name  of  Ashkenazim,  because 
they  came  from  Ashkenaz — the  name  given  to  Germany  by  the 
Rabbins,  For  the  most  part  the  Ashkenazim  are  small  in  stature 
and  fragile  in  form  ;  but  their  supercilious  looks  indicate  the 
same  self-sufficient  pride  that  characterised  the  Pharisees  of  old. 
The  old  hoary-headed  men  generally  wore  velvet  caps  edged 
with  fur;  long  love-locks  or  ringlets  were  dangling  on  their  thin 
cheeks,  and  their  outer  robes  presented  a  striking  contrast  of 
gaudy  colors. 

"Beyond  stood  a  group  of  Spanish  Jews,  of  more  polished 
appearance  and  dignified  bearing.  They  are  called  Sephardim, 
because,  according  to  the  Rabbins,  Spain  is  Sepharad.  Besides 
these,  there  are  Jews  from  almost  every  quarter  of  the  world, 
who  had  wandered  to  Jerusalem  that  they  might  die  in  the 
city  of  their  fathers  and  be  buried  in  the  Valley  of  Jehosaphat 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Temple  Hill.  The  worshipers  grad- 
iialh'  increased  in  number  until  the  crowd  thronging  the  pave- 
ment could  not  be  fewer  than  two  hundred.  It  was  an  affecting 
scene  to  notice  their  earnestness ;  some  thrust  their  hands  be- 
tween the  joints  of  the  stones  and  pushed  into  the  crevices  as 
far  as  possible  little  slips  of  paper  on  which  were  written,  in 
the  Hebrew  tongue,  short  petitions  addressed  to  Jehovah.  Some 
even  prayed  with  their  mouths  thrust  into  gaps,  where  the 
weather-beaten  stones  were  worn  awav  at  the  joints.  The  ex- 
planation given  of  this  strange  proceeding  is  that  it  arises  from 
a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  worshippers  that  their  prayers  may 
rise  from  holy  ground,  and,  ascending  like  the  morning  and 
evening  incense,  may,  through  the  sacred  wall,  rise  to  the  God 
-of  Abraham. 

"The  congregation  at  the  Wailing  Place  is  one  of  the  most 
solemn  gatherings  left  to  the  Jewish  Church,  and,  as  the  writer 
•gazed  at  the  motley  concourse,  he  experienced  a  feeling  of  sor- 
row that  the  remnants  of  the  chosen  race  should  be  lieartlessly 
thrust  outside  the  sad  enclosure  of  their  father's  holy  Temple 
by  men  of  alien  race  and  an  alien  creed.  Many  of  the  elders, 
seated  on  the  ground  with  their  backs  against  the  wall  on  the 
west  side  of  the  area  and  with  their  faces  turned  towards  the 
Eternal  House,  read  out  of  their  well-thnmbed  Hebrew  book 
passages  from  the  prophetic  writings,  such  as  'Be  not  wroth  very 
sore.  O  Lord  ;  neither  remember  iniquity  forever;  behold,  see, 
^e  beseech  Thee,  we  are  all  Thy  people.    Thy  holy  cities  are  a 


149 

wilderness,  Zion  is  a  wilderness,  Jerusalem  a  desolation.  Our 
holy  and  our  beautiful  house,  where  our  fathers  praised  Thee, 
is  burned  up  with  fire,  and  all  our  pleasant  things  are  laid  waste. 
Wilt  Thou  refrain  Thyself  for  these  things,  0  Lord?  Wilt  Thou 
hold  Thy  peace,  and  afflict  us  very  sore?'  " 

About  four  o'clock  a  Rabbi  stood  up,  facing  the  Sanc- 
tuary wall,  and,  resting  bis  book  against  the  stone,  read 
aloud  from  the  Jewish  lamentation  service  a  kind  of 
litany.  After  each  petition  the  assembly  responded  in  a 
peculiar  buzzing  tone,  rocking  their  bodies  to  and  fro, 
after  the  manner  of  their  fathers.  The  following  litany 
of  eight  petitions  is  often  rehearsed : 


Tlie  Rabbin  reads  aloud— 
For  the  place  tliat  lies  desolate: 
For  the  place  tliat  is  destroyed: 
For  the  walls  that  are  overthrown: 
For  our  majesty  that  is  departed: 
For  our  great  men  who  lie  dead: 
For  the  precious  stones  that  are  buried: 
For  the  priests  who  have  stumbled: 
For  our  kings  who  have  despised  Him: 


All  the  people  respond- 
We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
W^e  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 
We  sit  in  solitude  and  mourn. 


Another  litany,  written  after  the  manner  of  an  anti- 
phonal  psalm,  is  often  repeated.  It  consists  of  five  pe- 
titions offered  up  on  behalf  of  Zion;  and,  in  response 
to  each  petition,  the  assembly  offer  up  a  petition  for 
Jerusalem : 


The  Rabbin  prays  thus— 
We  pray  The«  have  mercy  on  Zion ; 
Haste  !  haste !  Redeemer  of  Zion ; 
May  beauty  and  ma.Jesty  surround 

Zion; 
May  the  kingdom  soon  return  to 

Zion ; 
May  peace  and  Joy  abide  with 

Zion; 


The  people  answer- 
Gather  the  children  of  Jerusalem. 
Speak  to  the  heart  of  Jerusalem. 
Ah !  turn  Thyself  mercifully  to 

Jerusalem. 
Comfort  those  who  mourn  over 

Jerusalem. 
And  the  Branch  of  Jesse  spring  up 

at  Jerusalem. 


150 

The  following  is  an  account  of  a  visit  to  the  Wailing 
Place  by  Dr.  Frankl,  a  Jew,  who  visited  the  Holy  City : 

"The  Jews  have  a  firman  from  the  Sultan,  which,  in  return 
for  a  small  tax,  ensures  them  the  right  of  entrance  to  the  Wail- 
ing Place  for  all  timp;  to  come.  The  road  conducted  us  to  sev- 
eral streets,  till,  entering  a  narrow,  crooked  lane,  we  reached 
the  wall,  which  has  been  often  described.  ThereJ  can  be  no 
-doubt  but  the  lower  part  of  it  is  a  real  memorial  of  the  days 
of  Solomon,  which,  in  the  language  of  Flavius  Josephus,  is 
immovable  for  all  time.  Its  cyclopic  proportions  produce 
the  conviction  that  it  will  last  as  long  as  the  strong  places 
of  the  earth.  Before  we  reached  the  wall  we  heard  a  sort 
of  howling  melody — a  passionate  shrieking — a  heart-rending 
wailing,  like  a  chorus,  from  which  the  words  came  sound- 
ing forth,  '  How  long  yet,  0  God?'  Several  hundred  of  Jews, 
in  Turkish  and  Polish  costumes,  were  assembled,  and,  with 
their  faces  turned  towards  the  wall,  were  bending  and  bow- 
ing as  they  offered  up  the  evening  prayer.  He  who  led  their 
devotions  was  a  young  man  in  a  Polish  talar  who  seemed  to 
be  worn  out  with  passion  and  disease.  The  words  were  those 
of  the  well  known  Mincha  prayer,  but  drawled,  torn,  shrieked 
and  mumbled  in  such  a  way  that  the  piercing  sound  resembled 
rather  the  raging  frenzy  of  chained  madmen,  or  the  roaring  of 
a  cataract,  than  the  worship  of  rational  beings.  At  a  consider- 
able distance  from  the  men  stood  about  a  hundred  women,  all 
in  long  white  robes,  the  folds  of  which  covered  the  head  and 
the  whole  figure,  like  white  doves,  wh.ch,  weary  of  flight,  had 
jierched  upon  the  ruins.  "When  it  was  their  turn  to  offer  up 
the  usual  passages  of  the  prayer  they  joined  the  men's  tumul- 
tuous chorus  and  raised  their  arms  aloft,  with  their  white  robes 
looking  like  wings  with  which  they  were  about  to  soar  aloft 
into  the  open  i«ky  ;  and  then  they  struck  their  foreheads  on  the 
square  stones  of  the  wall  of  the  Temple.  Meanwhile,  if  the 
leader  of  their  prayers  grew  weary,  and  leaned  his  head  against 
the  wall  in  silent  tears  for  a  moment,  there  was  a  death-like 
silence.  I  happened  to  be  near  him.  and  I  could  mark  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  agitated  soul.  He  gave  a  rapid  glance  at  me,  and, 
without  stopping  short  in  his  prayer,  said  to  me,  'Mokam  Ko- 
desh,'  L  €.,  'Holy  place,'  and  pointed  to  my  covered  feet.  My 
guide  had  forgotten  to  inform  me  that  I  must  take  off  my  shoes. 


151 

I  now  did  so,  and  was  drawn  into  the  vortex  of  raging  sorrow 
and  lamentation. 

"The  Jewish  Sabbath  begins  on  Friday  evening  at  sunset ; 
therefore,  when  the  sun  is  sinking  low  in  the  western  sk)^  the 
worshippers  at  the  Wailing  place  sometimes  chant  in  Hebrew  a 
plaintive  hymn  known  as  the  Wailing  Song.  The  melody  is 
thought  to  date  from  the  time  of  Ezra,  and,  consequently,  is 
accounted  to  be  amongst  the  oldest  pieces  of  music  extant.  The 
following  is  a  translation  of  the  hymn  : 

He  is  great,  He  is  good, 
He'll  build  His  Temple  speedily. 
In  great  haste,  in  great  haste. 
In  our  own  day  speedily. 
Lord,  build— Lord,  build. 
Build  Thy  Temple  speedily. 

He  will  save,  He  will  save. 
He'll  save  His  Israel  speedily. 
At  this  time  now,  O  Lord, 
In  our  own  day  speedily. 
Lord,  save— Lord,  save. 
Save  Thine  Israel  speedily. 

Lord  bring  back.  Lord  bring  back, 

Bring  back  Thy  people  speedily ; 

O  restore  to  their  land. 

To  their  Salem  speedily. 

Bring  back  to  Thee,  bring  back  to  Thee, 

To  their  Savior,  speedily. 

"How  long  the  Jews  have  assembled  for  lamentation  at  the 
Wailing  Place  cannot  be  determined  with  certainty,  although 
there  is  historical  evidence  to  prove  that  they  have  assembled 
to  mourn  over  their  lost  glory  and  desolate  Temple  since  the 
time  of  the  Apostles.  After  the  merciless  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem by  Titus,  in  70  A.  D.,  the  priestly  families  fled  to  Tiberias, 
on  the  shores  of  the  sea  of  Galilee  ;  and  the  great  men  of  the 
Jewish  nation  found  homes  in  Egypt,  Cyprus,  and  other  places, 
while  only  the  poor  and  the  officiating  priests  remained  in  the 
Holy  City.  Slowly  Jerusalem  rose  from  her  ashes,  and  for  sixty 
years  enjoyed  such  peace  as  comes  after  the  maddening  din  of 
warfare. 

"During  that  period  the  Jews  bewailed  their  downfall,  and 
nobody  interfered  with  the  poor  inhabitants  of  the  city.  At 
length,  after  sixty  years'  freedom  from  accursed  warfare,  a 
mighty  insurrection  arose  among  the  Jews  against  the  oppres- 


153 

sive  yoke  of  Rome.  The  insurgents  were  headed  by  Bar  Cocha- 
ba,  the  Son  of  a  Star,  the  last  and  greatest  of  the  false  Messiahs 
After  three  years  of  warfare  and  butchery,  Bar  Cochaba,  with 
sword  in  hand,  fell  down  slain  on  the  walls  of  Beth-er,  near 
Bethlehem,  and  forthwith  the  domination  of  the  Romans  was 
restored.  The  Emperor  Hadrian,  filled  with  wrath  at  the  insur- 
rection, again  destroyed  Jerusalem,  and  drove  the  Jews  from 
their  hallowed  city.  He  fixed  a  Roman  colony  on  Zion,  built  a 
heathen  temple  on  Moriah,  on  the  site  of  the  sacred  edifice  of 
the  Jews,  and  dedicated  it  to  Capitoline  Jupiter.  When  the 
colony  had  increased  in  size  he  bestowed  upon  the  new  city  the 
name  of  JEIia  Capitolina,  combining  with  his  own  family  title 
of  JEVms  the  name  of  Jupiter  of  the  Capitol,  the  guardian  deity 
of  the  colony.  Christians  and  pagans  were  permitted  to  reside 
there,  but  the  Jews  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  city  on  pain  ot 
death  ;  and  this  stern  decree  remained  in  force  in  the  days  of 
Tertullian,  about  a  century  afterwards.  About  the  middle  of 
the  fourth  century,  however,  the  Jews  were  permitted  to  dwell 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  once  a  year — on  the  anniversary  of 
the  capture  of  Jerusalem — they  were  allowed  to  enter  the  Tem- 
ple enclosure  that  they  might  approach  the  lapis  pertusm,  or 
perforated  stone,  and  anoint  it  with  oil.  'There,'  says  an  ancient 
writer,  'they  make  lamentations  with  groans,  and  rend  their 
garments,  and  so  retire.'  " 

"Jerome,  the  eminent  Latin  Father,  who  founded  a 
convent  at  Bethlehem,  and  for  thirty  years  led  an  ascetic 
life  in  the  Holy  Land,  when  commenting,  about  400  a.d., 
on  Zephaniah  i.  14,  'The  mighty  man  shall  cry  there 
bitterly,'  draws  a  vivid  picture  of  the  wretched  crowds  of 
Jews  who  in  his  day  assembled  at  the  Wailing  Place,  by 
the  west  wall  of  the  Temple,  to  bemoan  the  loss  of  their 
ancestral  greatness,  On  the  ninth  of  the  month  Ab, 
might  be  seen  the  aged  and  decrepit  of  both  sexes,  with 
tattered  garments  and  dishevelled  hair,  who  met  to  weep 
over  the  downfall  of  Jerusalem,  and  purchased  permis- 
sion of  the  soldiery  to  prolong  their  lamentations  (et  mies 
mercedem  postulat  ut  illisflere  plus  liceat.)     The  perforated 


154 

stone,  called  lapi.-<  pertusus.  is  probably  the  Sakhra  or 
sacred  rock  of  Moriah,  originally  the  threshing-floor  of 
Arannah  the  Jebusite,  and  now  covered  with  the  elegant 
sanctuary  called  Kabbet  es-Sakhraor  Dome  of  the  Rock. 

After  the  Moslem  occupation  of  Jerusalem  in  the 
seventh  century,  the  lapis  jjertasiiSy  or  sacred  rock  of 
Moriah,  was  invested  with  a  sanctity  second  only  to  the 
Kaaba  of  Mecca.  This  sanctity  was  afterwards  extended 
to  the  whole  of  the  top  of  Moriah,  and,  consequently,  the 
lieretic  Jews  were  driven  outside  the  Temple's  enclosure. 
In  course  of  time,  however,  they  approached  the  outer 
w^alls,  and  there  continued  to  celebrate  their  lamentation 
service.  Thus  for  above  twelve  centuries  have  the  Jews 
assembled  outside  the  walls  of  their  ancient  Temple ;  but 
it  would  be  difficult,  with  our  present  knowledge,  to 
prove  that  the  present  Wailing  Place  has  been  the  iden- 
tical spot  of  lamentation  throughout  the  many  genera- 
tions that  have  lived  and  died  since  the  Moslem  occupa- 
tion of  Jerusalem  under  Khalif  Omar  in  637  A.  D." 

I  neither  saw  nor  heard  anything  to  favor  the  suppos- 
ition that  the  Jews  are  rapidly  returning  to  Palestine. 
I  think  that  the  beneficence  of  Sir  Moses  Montifiore,  and 
of  the  Rothschilds,  the  former  having  built  tenement 
houses  in  abundance,  nearly  or  quite  rent  free ;  the  latter 
building  hospitals,  induced  many  poor  Jews  from  all 
over  the  world  to  return  to  their  historic  and  sacred  city ; 
and  this  movement  in  connection  with  certain  prophecies 
of  scripture,  gave  rise  to  the  belief.  The  following  how- 
ever throws  light  on  the  subject  from  a  more  recent 
observer : 

Charlotte,  N.  C,  Jan.  1»,  1891.— Dr.  A.  W.  Miller,  pastor  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  church,  of  this  city,  has  received  a  letter 


155 

from  Dr.  Ben.  Oliel  in  charge  of  a  mission  established  in  Jeru- 
salem by  Dr.  Miller,  for  the  conversion  of  Jews,  which  says  that 
eighty  thousand  Jews  had  reached  there  from  Russia  since 
December  1st.  The  letter  says  Russia  had  even  attempted  to 
annoy  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem. 

There  must  be  an  error  in  the  figures.     There  are  no 

transportation  facilities  adequate  to  such  results.     This 

immigration  is  chiefly  from  Russia,  no  doubt,  and  is  due 

to  persecution. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


AROUND,  ABOVE,  BENEATH  AND  IN  JERUSA- 
LEM—ML  MORIAH—GETHSEMANE. 


The  temple  area  is  bounded  by  a  wall  fifteen  hundred 
feet  long  on  the  east,  nine  hundred  and  twenty-seven  on 
the  south,  sixteen  hundred  feet  on  the  west,  and  one 
thousand  on  the  north,  and  covers  thirty-five  acres ;  it  is 
above  Ophel,  a  hill  between  the  Tyropceon  Valley  and  the 
Valley  of  Jehoshaphat ;  it  is  now  nearly  level,  for  Solo- 
mon built  walls  and  pillars  on  the  top  of  which  he  placed 
arches,  supporting  a  platform,  on  the  top  of' which  he 
built  other  pillars  and  continued  the  circumscribing 
walls  to  a  very  great  height,  still  another  opinion  places 
this  masonry  in  the  age  of  Justinian,  when  in  529  A.D., 
he  built  a  church  on  Temple  Hill  to  the  Virgin  Mary. 

The  walls  are,  mostly,  now,  under  ground,  but  the 
same  platform  built  by  King  Solomon,  as  some  think, 
remains,  and  the  subterranean  caves  made  by  covering 
over  these  pillars  are  called  Solomon's  stables,  and  the 
pillars  have  holes  for  rings,  in  which  no  doubt  the  hal- 
ters were  tied.  If  they  were  not  used  by  King  Solomon 
for  stables,  they  were  by  the  Knights  Templar.  A  little 
to  the  west  of  the  center  of  the  temple  area  is  the  Mosque 
of  Omar,  on  the  site  of  Solomon's  Temple.  It  is  an 
elevated  platform  of  stone  fifteen  feet  higher  than  the 
surrounding   area.     Julian,  the  apostate,  attempted   to 


157 

rebuild  the  Temple  to  prove  that  Christ  was  a  false 
prophet ;  but  while  excavating,  balls  and  flames  of  fire 
issued  from  the  ground,  consuming  the  workmen.  It 
was>ttempted  again,  afterward,  with  similar  results. 

"After  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the  Mohammedans, 
one  of  the  first  acts  of  Calif  Omar  was  to  build  a  splendid 
Mosque,  known  as  the  'Dome  of  the  Rock,'  on  the  site  of  Jeho- 
vah's Temple.    This  edifice,  afterward  beautified  by  Calif  Abdel 
Marwan,  still  crowns  the  summit  of  Moriah,  and  the  place  is 
regarded  by  the  Moslems  as  only  second  to  Mecca  in  point  of 
interest,  as  Mohammed  is  said  to  have  ascended  to  Heaven  from 
here.    The  Mosque  is  an  octagonal  building,  five  hundred  and 
thirty-six  feet  in  circumference,  surmounted  with  a  graceful 
dome  supported  by  twelve  exquisite  antique  marble  and  por- 
phyry columns.    Covering,  as  it  does,  simply  this  naked  rock 
so  sacred  in  its  associations  to  Jew,  Christian  and  Mohamme- 
dan, nothing  could  be  more  appropriate  or  grand.     It  is  much 
finer  than  St.  Sophia  at  Constantinople,  or  St.  Marks  at  Venice  ; 
has  no  rival  for  grace  or  sanctity,  and  its  peculiar  shape  is  the 
only  reason  it  has  not  been  more  extensively  copied ;  but  as  a 
shrine  for  the  'Rock  of  Ages'  it  is  perfectly  beautiful,  and  when 
the  sunshine  streams  through  its  fifty-six  gorgeous  windows,  its 
golden  mosaics  seem  to  kindle  up  with  a  divine  fire,  rendering 
the  spot  truly  glorious.    The  building  is  encased  on  the  outside 
with  encaustic  tiling  and  colored  marble ;  within  it  is  golden 
arabesque  mosaic,   very  rich,   with  passages  from  the  Koran 
everywhere  inserted  in  the  walls.    And,  what  is  remarkable, 
no  reference  is  made  in  the  inscription  to  David,  Solomon,  or 
Mohammed,  but  the  name  of  'Jesus,  the  Son  of  Mary,'  is  men- 
tioned four^times.    Is  this  prophetic  of  its  becoming  some  day 
alChristian  church  ? 
"  "The  profound  repose  and  death-like  silence  of  this  Temple 
is  in  keeping  with  the  sacredness  of  the  place,  for  here  alone, 
in  all  the  earth,  was  the  only  living  and  true  God  worshipped 
throughout  long  ages !  When  Greece  was  ignorant  of  God,  and 
Rome  had  'changed  the  glory  of  the  Incorruptible  into  an 
image  made  like  to  corruptible  man,'  the  descendants  of  Abra- 
ham on  this  mount  and  in  this  place  still  preserved  the  writings 
of  Moses,  and  the  worship  of  the  one  true  and  only  God.    It 
was  here  Solomon  erected  his  beautiful  Temple ;  here  through 


158 

long  centuries  the  daily  sacrifice  was  offered,  and  God  mani- 
fested himself  to  his  people  in  the  mysterious  Shekinah  as 
nowhere  else  on  the  earth.  Here  first  were  sung  those  stirring 
psalms  of  David,  which  ever  since  have  been  ascending  like 
incense  from  earth  to  Heaven.  Toward  this  spot  God's  people 
in  every  age  and  in  every  land  have  turned  their  faces  when 
they  prayed ;  and  it  was  here  the  Great  Teacher  himself  taught 
his  disciples,  wrought  his  miracles,  and  near  by,  on  Calvary,  a 
spur  of  the  same  mountain,  as  the  'Lamb  of  God,'  was  sacrificed 
for  the  sins  of  the  world.  Surely,  'This  is  none  other  but  the 
house  of  God  and  the  gate  of  Heaven,'  "  * 

The  rock  beneath  this  gorgeous  dome  is  the  one  on 
which  Josephus  says  Abraham  built  an  altar  for  the 
sacrifice  of  Isaac.  Through  the  rock  there  is  a  hole 
about  twenty  inches  in  diameter,  used,  no  doubt,  for 
conveying  the  remains  of  sacrifices  and  the  ashes  to  some 
subterranean  sewer  or  passage  emptying  into  the  valley  of 
Jehoshaphat,  but  the  Mohammedans  say  that  Mahomet 
went  from  this  place  to  Heaven,  passing  through  the  rock 
(there  is  a  cave  under  the  rock,  his  praying  place)  mak- 
ing this  hole.  He  sprang  up  from  the  rock,  and  they  pre- 
tend to  show^  one  of  his  tracks  on  the  rock.  They  say  the 
rock  started  to  follow  him,  but  Gabriel  flew  from  Heaven 
and  caught  the  stone,  checking  it  in  mid  air.  He  left 
the  print  of  his  hand  upon  it,  which  is  shown  you,  and 
they  pretend  that  the  rock  has  been  miraculously  sus- 
pended there  ever  since,  having  no  visible  support. 
They  also  say  that  from  the  east  wall  of  the  Temple 
area  to  Mt.  Olivet  a  bridge  will  be  built  as  narraw  as  a 
razor's  edge ;  Christ  ^viU.  sit  at  one  end  and  Mahomet  at 
the  other ;  every  mortal  will  have  to  cross  over  it ;  the 
righteous  alone  will  succeed;  the  wicked  will  fall  off 
and  perish  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  over  which  the 
*Dr.  De  Hass  m  "Buried  Cities  Recovered." 


159 

bridge  is  built.  The  Rabbis  could  equal  the  Arabs  in 
imaginary  creations.  Speaking  of  Og,  King  of  Bashan, 
they  say:  "The  soles  of  his  feet  were  40  miles  long,  and 
the  waters  of  the  Deluge  only  reached  to  his  ankles. 
He  was  ante-diluvian,  but  escaping  became  Eliezer  of 
Damascus,  Abraham's  servant.  Abraham  was  only  74 
times  the  size  of  ordinary  men.  Scolding  0^  one  day, 
Og  trembled  until  a  double  tooth  fell  out.  Abraham 
made  himself  an  ivory  bedstead  of  it,  on  which  he  ever 
afterwards  slept."  "Moses,  who  was  ten  ells  high,  once 
attacked  Og— by  this  time  King  of  Bashan.  He  seized  an 
ax  ten  ells  long,  jumped  ten  ells  high,  and  struck  Og  on 
the — ankle.  The  blow  finally  killed  him;  for  Rabbi 
Jochanan  says:  'I  have  been  a  grave-digger,  and  once 
when  I  was  chasing  a  roe  it  fled  into  a  shin-bone.  I  ran 
after  it  for  three  miles,  but  could  neither  overtake  it  nor 
see  any  end  to  the  bone,  so  I  returned  and  was  told  that 
it  was  the  shin  bone  of  Og,  King  of  Bashan.'  "  —  Thomp- 
son. 

Near  the  Mosque  of  Omar  is  the  Mosque  El  Aksa, 
built  for  a  Christian  church.  In  this,  contrary  to  rea- 
son, for  it  occurred  in  the  Temple,  they  show  where  the 
angel  appeared  to  Zechariah,  where  Mary  lodged,  and  a 
cradle  (a  marble  one)  in  which  Christ  lay  during  his 
stay  on  the  occasion  of  his  circumcision.  This  is  m  a 
cave  under  the  temple  area  and  is  possibly  true.  The 
print  of  his  feet  where  he  stood  on  the  occasion  of  argu- 
ing with  the  doctors  and  lawyers,  is  pointed  out. 

We  wandered  about  the  hallowed  spot  until  nearly 
sundown,  went  through  the  Via  Doloroso  by  the  churches 
of  the  Flagellation,  Ecce  Homo  and  by  Pilate's  Gate. 
We  went  to  see  Robinson's  arch  the  same  afternoon ; 
this  is  the  remainder  of  a  ruined  bridge  once  crossing 


160 

from  Mt.  Moriah  to  Mt.  Zion,  over  Tyropeon  valley;  it 
was  more  than  three  hundred  feet  long,  fifty-one  wide, 
and  eighty  high.  On  it  Titus  parleyed  with  the  Jews 
before  striking  the  final  blow,  A.  D.  70. 

One  day  Mr.  M.  and  I  walked  around  the  city  about  a 
mile  beyond  the  walls,  taking  in  eight  high  hills.  We 
passed  a  cemetery  from  which  a  melancholy  and  monot- 
onous bugle  sounded  for  hours.  In  our  conjectures 
about  the  occasion  of  such  a,  to  us,  unique  procedure, 
we  finally  concluded  some  soldier  was  dead  and  these 
w^ere  expressions  of  military  grief,  (as  such  they  would 
have  been  fitting.)  AVe  stood  and  watched  the  manoeu- 
vres of  the  camp  some  hundreds  of  yards  away  in  Gihon 
yalley  ;  we  decided  this  time  they  were  about  to  inter 
some  noted  charger,  as  certainly  they  were  handling  a 
dead  horse,  whereupon  we  thought  the  solo  still  more 
appropriate ;  but  the  horse  was  disposed  of  and  our  mu- 
sician still  made  the  welkin  ring.  Subsequent  inquiry 
revealed  to  us  that  he  Avas  a  mile  from  the  city,  in  obe- 
dience to  a  delicate  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things,  to 
practice.  I  thought  at  once  of  Dr.  Talmage's  remark 
that  an  embryo  cornetist  might  get  to  heaven,  but  it 
would  be  hard  for  his  neighbors  to  do  so.  Did  the  city 
fathers  of  Jerusalem  see  no  chance  unless  they  ostracised 
for  the  time  their  band  recruits  ? 

We  took  one  day  to  do  the  hills  around  Jerusalem  and 
one  the  valleys.  We  start  down  Gihon,  called  Hinnom, 
below  the  lower  pool  of  Gihon,  and  pass  four  most 
pitiable  looking  lepers,  some  of  whom  have  lost  fingers, 
some  toes,  some  the  voice,  except  a  dry  husky  whisper. 
A  good  house  has  been  provided  for  them,  and  support, 
about  one  mile  south-west  of  the  city,  but  they  prefer  to 


161 

sit  by  the  way-side  and  beg.  We  go  down  Hinnom  to 
En  Rogel,  in  Jehoshaphat  valley;  here  is  a  pool  of  most 
filthy  looking  water,  bnt  nsed;  here  David's  friends, 
Jonathan  and  Ahimaaz,  came  for  news  when  he  fled 
from  Absalom — 2  Sam.,  17:17.  Here  Adonijah  made  a 
feast  with  a  view  of  gathering  adherents  and  seizing  the 
Kingdom  when  David  was  about  to  die.  Joab,  the  great 
captain,  was  in  his  party  to  his  own  ruin.  We  then  go 
up  through  the  King's  gardens,  which  are  luxurious  and 
fruitful  enough,  watered,  as  they  are,  from  the  pool  of 
Siloam,  to  deserve  the  name.  We  pause  at  Siloe's  brook 
to  see  the  daughters  of  Siloam  come  over  for  water  and 
do  their  washing.  It  is  no  longer  a  "shady  rill,"  nor  an 
inspirer  of  lofty  song,  except  to  the  blind  indeed.  We 
ascend  to  Gethsemane,  enclosed  by  a  wall  of  stone  about 
seven  or  eight  feet  liigh ;  it  covers  about  one- third  of  an 
acre,  contains  eight  large  olive  trees,  possibly  the  same 
under  which  the  disciples  slept  when  He  was  withdrawn 
from  them,  about  a  stone's  cast,  to  pray.  It  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Franciscan  order  of  the  Latin  church, 
and  kept  by  a  kind  and  courteous  gardener,  who  gave 
us,  unsolicited,  small  bouquets,  for  which  he  refused 
backsheesh  !  He  also  refused  to  increase  the  size  of  them 
for  pay.  We  tried  to  call  up  the  scenes  of  that  doleful 
night,  when  our  best  friend  "trod  the  wine-press  alone," 
"and  of  the  people  there  was  none  with  Him."  Hard 
by  is  a  cave  called  the  "Grotto  of  the  Agony,"  into  which 
the  Savior  retired  to  pray.  The  Latins  have  a  church 
there  now  and  in  it  a  beautiful  statuette  representing  the 
agony  and  the  angel  strengthening  Him.  "And  he  was 
withdrawn  from  them  about  a  stone's  cast,  and  kneeled 
down,  and  prayed,  saying,  Father,  if  thou  be  willing, 
remove  this  cup  from  me:    nevertheless,  not  my  will, 


162 

but  thine,  be  done.  And  there  appeared  an  angel  unto 
him  from  heaven,  strengthening  him.  And  being  in  an 
agony  he  prayed  more  earnestly:  and  his  sweat  was  as  it 
w^ere  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground." 
Luke  22:  41-44.  My  heart  swelled  with  gratitude  that 
already  such  an  inheritance  had  fallen  to  me  by  His 
sufferings  and  death,  and  that  these  good  things  are  but 
the  earnest  of  what  awaits  us  beyond. 

Before  leaving  Jerusalem  we  went  into  the  subterra- 
nean quarries,  where  King  Solomon  got  stone  for  build- 
ing the  city,  the  Temple  and  the  Walls  of  Jerusalem. 
One  can  wander  here  for  hours  over  new  ground  all  the 
time,  see  how  the  stone  was  cut  from  the  living  rock 
and  severed  by  wooden  wedges.  Here  are  tons  on  tons 
of  chips,  where  the  stones  were  trimmed  before  going  into 
the  wall.     Thompson  says: 

''We  found  water  trickling  down  in  several  places,  and  in  one 
there  was  a  small  natural  pool  full  to  the  brim.  This  trickling 
water  has  covered  many  parts  with  crystalline  incrustations, 
pure  and  white ;  in  others  stalactites  hang  from  the  roof,  and 
stalagmites  have  grown  up  from  the  floor.  The  entire  rock  is 
remarkably  white,  and  though  not  very  hard,  will  take  a  polish 
quite  sufficient  for  architectural  beauty. 

'The  general  directions  of  these  excavations  is  south-east, 
and  about  parallel  with  the  valley  which  descends  from  the 
Damascus  Gate.  I  suspect  that  they  extend  down  to  the  Tem- 
ple area,  and  also  that  it  was  in  these  cayerns  that  many  of  the 
Jews  retired  when  Titus  took  the  Temple,  as  we  read  in  Jose- 
phus.  The  whole  city  might  be  stowed  away  in  them  ;  and  it 
is  my  opinion  that  a  great  part  of  the  very  white  stone  of  the 
temple  must  have  been  taken  from  these  subterranean  quar- 
ries." 

We  also  went  to  see  the  models  of  the  Temples  of  Solo- 
mon and  Herod  and  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  by  Mr.  Shick, 
who  has  been  present   at  all  modern  excavations  about 


163 

the  city,  who  has  read  all  the  books  that  have  been  writ- 
ten on  the  subject,  and  who  probably  knows  more  about 
Jerusalem — ancient  and  modern — than  any  other  living 
man  on  earth.  This  model  was  thirty  years  in  building 
and  is  a  perfect  piece  of  workmanship.  He  offers  to  sell 
the  whole  for  $3,000,  which  is  cheap.  We  bought 
photos  of  this  model,  and  in  London  I  had  them  put  on 
glass  for  use  in  a  stereopticon. 

We  went  to  Mt.  Olivet  and  ascended  the  tower  there, 
from  which  one  has  a  splendid  view.  To  the  east,  four 
thousand  feet  below  and  eighteen  miles  away  we  can 
clearly  see  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan  valley  for  fifty 
or  sixty  miles;  beyond,  the  mountains  of  Moab.  On 
the  west  Jerusalem  lies  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills  rising 
from  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  while  to  the  south  fruit- 
ful fields  stretch  out  in  pleasing  panorama  towards  Beth- 
lehem. North  we  see  many  small  towns,  which  no  doubt 
were  large  cities  in  David's  day.  We  are  near  the  place, 
possibly  on  the  very  spot,  on  which  the  disciples  and 
friends  of  our  Lord  gathered  that  memorable  day  to  see 
their  Lord  ascend.  The  Russians  have  a  Greek  Catholic 
church  here — a  very  fine  one — called  the  Church  of  the 
Ascension. 

The  country  contains  many  convents  of  the  Roman 
and  Greek  Catholic  churches,  built  at  enormous  cost, 
but  they  are  dead,  not  embalmed,  not  buried,  that  were 
better,  they  are  putrid  cadavers,  a  stench  in  Mohamme- 
dan nostrils. 

There  is  a  good  Protestant  work  going  on  in  the  city 
and  community.  I  have  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
several  native  Christians,  some  Christian  Hebrews,  all 
Protestant,  and  their  type  of  piety  is  very  satisfactory,  so- 
far  as  one  can  judge  on  short  acquaintance. 


W'& 


165 

The  Church  of  England  has  a  resident  bishop  and 
several  priests  here,  an  elegant  church,  a  good  school,  a 
good  Bible  depository  and  two  olive  wood  factories  in 
which  they  work  Cliristian  Jews.  I  worshipped  with 
them  on  two  Sabbaths  and  about  twenty-five  young 
Jews  from  twelve  to  17  yearsjold  made  the  music,  and 
several  grown  Jews  were  in  the  congregation.  I  con- 
versed with  some  of  them  and  rejoiced  to  see  a  devotion 
to  Christianity  equal  to  the  opposition  they  had  once 
shown. 

One  of  the  priests  whom  I  met  handed  me  the  follow- 
ing, which  I  copy  to  show  the  character  of  the  only 
Protestant  missionary  work  going  on  in  the  Holy  City  : 

The  London  Society  for  Promoting  Christianity 
Amongst  the  Jews. 


JERUSALEM    MISSION. 

The  following  are  the  various  means  used  for  bringing  the 
Gospel  to  bear  upon  the  Jews  in  this  city: 

1.    Christ  Church. 

In  the  Hebrew  Church  on  Mount  Zion  there  is  a  daily  He- 
brew Service  at  7  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Also  a  daily  Eng- 
lish Service  at  9  o'clock. 

Sunday  services  at  10  a.  m.  and  7:30  p.  m.  in  English. 

G-erman  Service  at  3:30  p.  m. 

2.     Schools. 
The  Boys'  School,  where  42  Jewish  boys  are  boarded  and 
clothed,  and  a  large  number  partly  fed. 

3.    The  Jewesses'  Institution. 
In  this  Institution  32  Jewish  girls  are  boarded  and  clothed, 
and  many  day  scholars  are  taught  and  partly  fed.     In  both 
Schools,  Christianity  is  distinctly  taught. 

4.    The  Enquirers*  Home. 
Here  Jewish  Inquirers  are  provided  with  shelter  while  their 
sincerity  is  tested,  as  well  as  their  Industry. 


166 

5.    The  House  op  Industry. 

This  is  a  home  for  young  Converts  and  tested  Enquirers 
•where  they  are  taught  Trades  and  provided  with  work. 

6.     The  Hospital. 

Here  the  sick  Jews  are  treated  for  various  complaints; 
twenty-six  beds  being  provided  for  them.  Also  laige  numbers 
of  Out-Patients  are  attended  to  both  at  the  Hospital  and  in 
their  Homes. 

7.     The  Book-STORK. 

Bibles  in  various  languages,  and  other  useful  books  are  sold 
.and  given  away. 

8.     The  Bookbinding  and  Printing  Shop. 
9.     The  Carpenter's  Shop. 
10.     The  Shoemaker's  Shop. 


By  such  methods  and  works  carried  on  by  voluntary 
subscriptions  the  Society  seeks  to  spread  the  knowledge 
of  the  Gospel  among  that  people  from  whom  the  Church 
received  the  truth  at  the  first. 

Travelers  interested  in  Christian  work  are  invited  to 
inspect  the  various  parts  of  the  work  carried  on  in 
Jerusalem. 

A  conference  of  Jews  and  Christians  recently  held  in 
Chicago,  sent  a  memorial  to  President  Harrison,  March 
5,  1891,  asking  his  diplomatic  aid  in  an  efibrt  to  secure 
for  Jews,  especially  Russian  Jews,  peaceful  possession 
■of  homes  in  Palestine. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


TRAVELING  IN  PALESTINE. 


Many  readers  would  like  to  know  how  the  tour 
of  Palestine  is  made.  From  Joppa  to  Jerusalem,  Beth- 
lehem and  Hebron  one  can  go  on  wheels  ;  the  rest  of 
the  country  must  be  visited  on  horseback,  except  from 
Haifa  to  Tiberias  and  I  believe  there  is  a  road  from  Jop- 
pa to  Nablous  and  there  is  a  good  road  from  Beirut  to 
Damascus,  72  miles. 

Tourists  either  camp  in  tents  or  lodge  in  hospices  of 
the  Latin  and  Greek  churches,  finding  hotels  only  in  the 
larger  towns.  We  chose  the  second,  as  being  both  more 
economical  and  affording  a  better  opportunity  to  study 
the  customs  and  character  of  the  people  now  living  here. 

We  made  arrangements  with  Mr.  Floyd,  a  contractor, 
to  take  us  from  Jerusalem  to  Beirut.  The  cost  of  the 
trip  varies  according  to  the  size  of  the  party  and  the 
amount  of  baggage,  from  five  to  fifteen  dollars  per  day, 
and  takes,  by  Damascus  eighteen  to  twenty  days,  and 
by  Tyre  and  Sidon  twelve  days. 

Both  routes  are  the  same  as  far  north  as  Nazareth 
Cana  and  Tiberias,  where  those  going  by  Damascus  go 
East  of  the  Jordan,  while  those  going  up  the  coast  go 
westward  to  Mt.  Carmel,  and  Haifa.  The  road  passes 
Bethel,  Shiloh,  Plains  of  Ephraim,  Mts.  Gerizim  and 
Ebal,  Sychar,  Jacob's  Well,  Samaria,  Jenin,  ("  En  Gan- 
nim "    Fountain    of     Gardens) — the   Kishon   rises   in 


168 

this  city ;  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  Gideon's  Fountain, 
Gilboa,  Shunem,  Nain,  Endor,  Mt.  Tabor,  Sea  of  Gali- 
lee, Cana,  Nazareth,  Mt.  Carmel,  Acre  or  Akka,  Ain  or 
Ez-Zib,  where  Hyrcanus  had  his  ears  cut  off  and  Her- 
od's brother  knocked  out  his  brains  against  a  wall  to 
escape  indignity.  Tyre,  Sidon,  Sarepta  and  many  other 
cities  of  doubtful  identity.  I  will  relate  some  incidents 
of  the  journey  farther  on. 

I  will  give  one  day  from  our  itinerary.  A  dragoman, 
well  acquainted  with  the  country,  takes  charge  of  the 
party.  He  informs  us  the  previous  evening  at  what 
hour  we  are  to  start,  and  promptly  calls  us  at  the  ap- 
pointed time.  Our  baggage  ready,  while  we  take  break- 
fast, it  is  put  on  the  mules.  Breakfast  is  bread,  butter, 
eggs,  cold  meats  and  coffee.  This  done,  with  pencil, 
paper  and  notebooks  and  such  protections  as  we  need 
against  bad  weather,  we  go  out  for  the  day's  ride.  If 
the  donkey  boys  have  not  done  strapping  on  the  bag- 
gage, it  is  interesting  to  watch  them  fasten  half  a  dozen 
valises,  trunks  and  bundles  of  different  sizes  and  shapes 
so  well  balanced  on  a  horse,  mule  or  donkey  that  it  will 
not  fall  off  all  day,  up  and  down  the  mountains,  nor  gall 
the  beast.  I  have  seen  a  horse  fall  fiat  with  his  load  on 
the  smooth  stones  of  Tyre  and  not  affect  the  load  on  his 
back,  but  rise  and  go  right  on  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened. They  quarrel  a  great  deal  in  everything  they  do 
— these  Arabs,  they  never  seem  to  understand  each  oth- 
er, so  that  often  in  tying  a  rope  or  fixing  a  rein,  they 
will  talk  as  if  about  to  fight  the  whole  time — though  I 
believe  they  seldom  do  fight.  Everything  ready  we 
mount  our  horses  for  the  morning  ride. 

The  first  day  out  from  Jerusalem  is  over  a  very  rough 
road,  being  a  portion  of  the  old  Roman  road  from  Cassa- 


160 

rea,  it  has  greatly  deteriorated.  We  have  just  turned 
our  backs  upon  the  once  more  growing  city,  when  two 
gentlemen  in  black  waterproofs  ride  into  our  path ;  a 
glance  suffices  to  show  they  have  traveled  considerably, 
and  only  a  minute  is  required  to  learn  they  are  Drs. 
Brancroft,  Principal  of  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  and 
Buckley,  editor  of  The  Christian  Advocate  (New  York.) 
The  former  on  his  second  or  third  trip  abroad,  the  latter 
on  his  fourth ;  the  conversation  turns  from  one  pleasant 
topic  to  another.  I  learned  from  Dr.  Buckley  the  sad 
news  of  Bishop  McTyeire's  death. 

We  go  North-west  by  the  tombs  of  the  Kings  and  the 
hill  Scopus;  about  one  and  a  half  miles  out  the  drago- 
man says,  turn  your  horses  now  and  look  at  Jerusalem 
for  the  last  time.  We  turn  and  look  ;  within  the  walls 
the  city  seems  to  be  young  ;  without  she  appears  to  be 
but  the  work  of  yesterday. 

As  we  take  this  last  look  we  remember  the  Salem 
(peace)  of  Melchizedek,  the  Jebus,  strong  hold  of  the 
Jebusites,  and  how  David  came  and  took  it  for  Israel 
and  made  it  the  capital  city  of  his  realm,  and  how  diso- 
bedient Israel  had  to  surrender  it  to  Shishak  of  Egypt, 
and  how  this  was  but  the  beginning  of  a  long  list  of  sor- 
rows whose  anticipations  well  nigh  broke  the  heart  of 
Jeremiah,  and  whose  realizations  were  but  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  words  of  Moses,  Deut.  28th,  and  of  many  of 
his  successors,  especially  of  the  man  like  unto  him 
whom  the  Lord  God  should  raise  up  unto  Israel.  We 
think  of  Titus'  hosts  encamped  just  here  to  the  left  on 
Scopus,  of  that  final  shock  when  all  was  lost,  even  to 
the  holy  temple  itself,  of  the  brave  and  the  wise  Jose- 
phus,  cool  in  the  hour  when 

"Death  rode  upon  the  sulphury  siroc, 
Red  battle  stamped  his  foot  and  nations  felt  the  shock." 
11 


170 

And  not  only  nations,  but  the  world.  Poor,  fanatical, 
ritualistic,  starving  Jews,  your  house  now  desolate,  is 
not  even  left  you  ;  vainly  hoping  to  the  very  end  for  a 
Saviour,  the  Messias,  had  he  returned  indeed,  it  would 
have  been  to  be  again  rejected,  and  hither  wandered  the 
poor,  deluded  crusader,  urged  by  fanaticism,  ambition 
and  revenge  at  a  cost  of  millions  of  lives  and  billions  of 
gold  to  take  the  holy  Sepulcher  from  Moslem  hande 
with  barbarous  butchery ;  to  be  surrendered  again  to 
Islam  under  Saladin. 

Just  over  the  city  walls  rises  the  magnificent  dome  of 
the  mosque  of  Omar  on  the  site  of  Solomon's  Temple,  to 
the  left,  the  Mosque  El  Aksa,  be3'ond,  the  tomb  of  David 
on  Mt.  Zion,  to  the  right  the  Tower  of  David,  the 
splendid  double-domed  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
and  to  the  right  of  the  walled  part  the  Russian  Hospice 
worth  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  To  the  left 
and  visible  enough  is  Mt.  Scopus  and  Mt.  Olivet,  at 
whose  base  is  Gethsemane,  beyond  is  Siloam,  beneath 
w^hich  flows  "  Siloe's  shady  rill  "  "  fast  by  the  oracle  of 
God."  Just  over  the  Eastern  wall  is  the  "  hill  of  Evil 
counsel."  The  minarets,  domes,  towers  and  cathedrals 
all  are  photographed  indelibly  on  memory's  page; 
with  a  deep  sigh  we  bid  the  City  of  David  farewell. 
What  a  history  of  voluptuous  splendor,  of  religious  sol- 
emnities, of  ignominious  captivities,  of  more  than  mel- 
ancholy tragedies,  she  has  known  !  What  future  awaits 
her,  who  can  tell ! 

We  turn  our  horses'  heads  towards  the  North,  grate- 
ful for  that  mercy  that  has  brought  us  here  and  so 
greatly  increased  life's  richness.  We  soon  reach  Shafiit, 
called  Nob,  where  David  fled  and  fed  in  trouble,  I.  Sam. 
21.     Tradition  says  this  is  the  birth  place  of  the  prophet 


^ffrfHimiillll' 


ililillliiiiu,, 


172 

Joel.  Nothing  now  remains  except  ruins,  with  a  few 
poor  houses,  and  it  stands  about  one  hundred  yards 
from  the  road.  We  next  and  soon  come  to  Ramah,  the 
home  of  that  Levite  w^ho  was  so  unfortunate  at  Gibeah 
of  Saul,  Judges  19.  Saul's  seven  sons  were  hanged  near 
here  at  Gibeah;  Jer.  31:15,  also  immortalizes  this  place, 
though  now  not  one  Jew  lives  here,  and  only  a  few 
wretched  Arabs.  Over  very  stony  (old  ruined  Roman) 
roads  about  11  o'clock  we  pass  on  our  right  Beeroth, 
where  it  is  claimed  Joseph  and  Mary  turned  back  to 
look  for  Jesus,  when  lost  at  12  years  of  age.  The  day 
has  become  exceedingly  cold  and  windy.  We  have 
reached  Bethel  by  12  M.,  and  ride  down  into  an  old  res- 
ervoir and  eat  on  the  ground,  pic-nic  fashion,  behind 
the  wall  of  the  reservoir.  While  the  dragoman  and 
cook  arrange  for  lunch  we  read  up  the  history  of  Bethel 
and  find  that  this  is  where  Abraham  built  an  altar  to 
God,  that  here  Jacob  took  some  of  these  stones,  possibly 
the  one  I  sit  on  was  one  of  them,  to  make  a  pillow  to 
rest  on  as  he  fled  from  Beersheba  to  Padanaram,  and 
had  that  wonderful  dream,  seeming  to  see  the  angels 
of  God  ascending  and  descending  on  a  ladder,  and 
though  the  ancients  called  it  Luz  at  the  first,  it  has  been 
called  Bethel  ever  since.  Here  he  built  an  altar  and  an- 
nointed  it  with  oil  and  called  it  "  El-Bethel,  because 
there  God  appeared  unto  him,  when  he  fled  from  the  face 
of  his  brother."  Here  he  vowed.  Here  Rebekah's  nurse 
died  and  was  buried.  Near  here  the  two  she-bears  slew 
forty  and  two  children  for  mocking  Ehsha,  the  prophet  of 
God.  Here  Jeroboam  set  up  a  golden  calf  and  sought 
to  turn  away  the  people  from  God ;  and  on  one  occa- 
sion, stretching  out  his  hand  to  smite  God's  prophet,  it 
was    withered,   and    restored  again  in  answer  to   the 


173 

prophet's  prayer.  Just  across  a  ravine  and  in  full  view 
is  Ai,  which  has  a  history  following  Jericho's  overthrow. 
Josh.  7  tells  us  that  the  host  of  Joshua  were  routed  be- 
cause of  Achan's  covetousness  at  Jericho  in  stealing  a 
wedge  of  gold,  two  hundred  sheckels  of  silver  and  a 
goodly  Babylonish  garment,  and  could  not  prevail  until 
after  Achan's  execution. 

Lunch  over,  we  mount  our  steeds  and  make  towards 
Jifna,  where  we  are  to  lodge  for  the  night. 

We  pass  no  places,  these  two  hours  now  recognized  as 
connected  with  sacred  history,  though  no  doubt  could 
these  stones  speak  they  would  rehearse  sad  stories  of 
blood  and  tears.  We  observe  on  the  way  steep  hills 
terraced  to  the  top,  and  estimating  the  time  and  labor 
required  to  do  the  work  of  terracing  according  to  Am- 
erican standards  of  valuation  much  of  this  land  costs 
two  thousand  dollars  per  acre,  and  fifty  to  one  hundred 
dollars  per  acre  annually  to  keep  it  in  repairs.  But 
humanity  is  very  cheap,  and  time  is  not  money,  as 
with  us. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  climate,  not  much  in  soil. 
The  Jordan  valley  and  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean is  very  warm  now ;  the  hills  are  temperate  and 
pleasant  \'  hile  the  mountain  tops  are  colder,  and  Leban- 
on and  Hermon  covered  with  snow.  Nearly  all  the  soil 
is  red,  some  spots  of  grey  land  are  seen,  and  a  few  belts 
of  black  ground  in  Galilee,  but  all  is  productive  to  an 
amazing  degree.  Some  of  the  hills  and  mountains  seem 
at  a  little  distance  to  be  destitute  of  any  soil,  and  to  be 
only  made  of  rocks,  yet  here  the  herds  of  sheep  and 
goats  find  pasturage.  There  is  no  more  beautiful  land 
perhaps  anywhere  than  the  plains  of  Jezreel  and  all  the 
panoram  i  seen  on  all  the  sides  of  Mt.  Tabor,  from  the 


174 

tojD,  and  all  the  country  li'Dm  Mt.  Tabor  to  the  sea  of 
Galilee  is  excellent  for  farming  and  not  very  hilly. 

But  turning  from  the  agricultural  to  the  political  con- 
dition of  this  country  I  have  observed  that  it  is,  if  not 
fully  ripe,  nearly  so  for  a  change,  if  I  may  not  say 
revolution.  One  typical  American  to  every  one  hundred 
inhabitants  here  would  bring  about  a  revolution  in,  I 
think  I  may  say,  five  years  at  the  farthest,  but  it  is  com- 
ing any  way,  only  Moslemism  stays  it,  but  the  claims  of 
humanity  are  asserting  themselves  steadily.  The  Eng- 
lish, French,  Germans  and  Russians  are  all  fully  ap- 
prised of  the  coming  smash,  and  each  fully  awake  to  a 
sense  of  the  possible  gain  it  may  result  in  to  each. 
Each  watches  all  the  rest  with  Arguslike  vigilance:  each 
is  putting  as  many  men  in  position  in  every  salient  point 
as  possible. 

At  Beirut  there  is  a  post  office  for  the  English,  one  for 
the  Austrians,  one  for  the  French,  etc.,  and  enough  men 
of  these  three  nations,  i.  e.,  of  either  of  them,  to  do  the 
most  important  civil  service  of  Syria,  which  they  expect 
to  do  some  of  these  days. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


NORTH  OF  JERUSALEM. 


The  second  day  out  from  Jerusalem  was  very  raiiiy^ 
and  we  needed  the  Arab  ahais  (a  kind  of  overcoat  nsed 
by  Bedawins)  we  had  bought  in  Jerusalem,  w^hich  were 
good  waterproofs. 

AVe  passed  through  Hora-]\Ieiyeh  or  Eobbers'  Glen, 
where  we  met  a  caravan  of  about  forty  camels,  with  as 
many  drivers ;  their  cargo  was  wheat,  Avhich  was  set  on  the 
ground  while  the  camels  were  grazing.  There  is  an  ex- 
cellent spring  in  this  glen  at  which  we  got  a  good  draught. 
Our  road  wound  up  the  ravine,  while  on  either  hand  the 
hillsides  were  terraced  to  the  top,  with  no  less  than  one 
hundred  stone  walls,  some  of  them  ten  and  twelve  feet 
high.  On  these  terraces  wheat  or  lentils  are  sown,  or 
fig  or  olive  trees  planted. 

We  reached  the  site  of  ancient  Shiloh  about  noon, 
where  we  lunched  in  an  old  ruined  church.  We  saw^  the 
desolation  spoken  of  by  Jeremiah  7:  12-14  and  26:  6,  and 
remembered  that  this  w^as  once  Joshua's  capitol,  where 
he  reared  up  the  tabernacle. — Joshua  18.  That  here 
Eli  lived  and  died,  that  here  Hannah  came  and  prayed 
and  was  heard  and  obtained  the  desire  of  her  heart,  and 
made  yearly  visits  to  bring  her  boy  a  little  coat. 

And  as  I  read  this  history,  and  considered  the  happy 
results  I  thought  how  beautiful  to  give  our  children  to 
God  in  infancy  and  rear  them  for  his  service. 


176 

We  ride  during  the  afternoon  through  the  fertile 
plains  of  Ephraim  and  Mukhna,  reaching  Jacob's  well 
just  before  night.  It  too  is  walled  in  and  a  gate  kept 
for  backsheesh,  but  the  gate-keeper  was  absent,  and  we 
climbed  up  some  other  w^ay,  i.  e.,  over  the  wall.  A  church 
was  once  built  over  the  well,  but  it  has  gone  to  destruc- 
tion, leaving  only  broken  columns  projecting  here  and 
there  from  the  debris.  A  large  stone,  like  a  mill-stone, 
covers  the  shaft ;  this  stone  has  a  hole  drilled  throusfh 
it  about  two  feet  in  diameter.  It  was  very  deep  but  dry. 
We  longed  for  a  draught  from  its  depths.  Since  our 
visit  the  Russian  government  have  bought  it  from  the 
Turks  and  will  give  it  all  needed  improvements.  We  sat 
on  that  well's  mouth  and  looked  over  the  fields  two 
months  later  in  the  year  than  when  our  Lord  said :  "Say 
not  ye.  There  are  yet  four  months,  and  then  cometh 
harvest  ?"  Just  out  there  a  f  e^/  hundred  paces  is  a  tomb 
called  Joseph's  tomb  in  the  parcel  of  ground  that  Jacob 
gave  to  his  son  Joseph,  where  they  buried,  him,  and  the 
bones  of  Joseph,  which  the  children  of  Israel  brought 
up  out  of  Egypt,  burying  them  in  Shechem,  in  a  parcel  of 
ground  which  Jacob  bought  of  the  sons  of  Hamor  the 
father  of  Shechem  for  a  hundred  pieces  of  silver ;  and  it 
became  the  inheritance  of  the  children  of  Joseph. — 
Joshua  24:  32.  We  look  up  at  Mt.  Ebal  and  Gerizim, 
called  mountains  of  Cursino-  and  Blessino-. — Josh.  8:  33. 

I  copy  from  my  Diary  the  following,  written  the  even- 
ing we  were  there :  "Our  Lord  must  have  been  here  in 
winter,  but  at  any  season  the  scene  is  inspiring.  Already 
the  place  was  old  and  full  of  history,  beneath  him  was 
Jacob's  well  before  him  the  parcel  of  ground  he  had 
bought  and  lost  in  une(|ual  conquest  and  retaken  with 
his  "sword  and  bow,"  in  the  midst  of  it  was  Joseph's 


177 

tomb,  above  him  the  Mountains  of  Blessing  and  Cursing, 
around  him  a  people  dead  to  their  privileges  and  duties, 
and  void  of  any  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

No  place  on  earth  was  better  suited  to  reflection  on  the 
remote  and  romantic  past,  the  serious  and  pregnant  pre- 
sent, the  sad  foreboding  future.  Oh,  Son  of  God,  I  am 
riding  by  where  thou  walkedst  and  w^ast  weary  with  the 
journey,  resting  thy  tired  head,  it  may  be,  that  night  on 
some  of  these  stones,  because  the  Jews  and  Samaritans 
have  no  dealings  with  one  another.  I  go  up  to  Shechem, 
whither,  perhaps,  thou  couldst  not,  and  find  a  good 
home.  I  have  enough  of  all  but  thy  spirit.  Thou  car- 
riedst  all  our  woes.  Thou  art  worthy  to  be  crowned 
Lord  of  all.  Be  my  portion  forever,  and  lift  me,  a  con- 
stant beneficiary  of  thy  grace,  to  a  higher  plane  of  living. 

We  ride  between  Ebal  and  Gerizim  to  Sychar  of  old, 
called  now  Nablous.  It  is  a  city  of  13,000  inhabitants 
and  contains  the  remnant  of  the  old  stock  of  Samaritans 
(about  one  hundred  and  fifty)  whose  chief  or  high  priest, 
Jacob  Shalaby,  we  saw  at  Jaffa.  They  still  worship  in 
Mt.  Gerizim  as  directed. — Ex.  12.  I  saw  the  old  Pen- 
tateuch manuscript  iu  their  possession,  which  they  claim 
to  be  twenty-six  hundred  years  old.  It  is  parchment  and 
rolls  on  two  cylinders  from  one  of  which  it  unrolls  as  it 
rolls  upon  the  other,  it  is  about  twenty-four  inches  wide, 
and  very  dingy  as  one  would  expect.  The  Turks  have  a 
garrison  here.  There  are  signs  of  great  poverty.  The 
curse  of  leprosy  abides  and  abounds.  There  is  a  steam 
wheat  mill  and  a  soap  factory  or  two,  though  none  of  the 
inhabitants  appear  to  have  ever  used  any  of  the  soap. 
We  spent  the  night  wdth  Mr.  Fulcher,  a  missionary,  who 
was  so  busy  trying  to  right  some  altercation  (I  think) 
that  had  arisen  that  w^e  had  little  conversation  with  him. 


178 

He  remarked,  iu  answer  to  some  questions,  he  was  only 
sowing  seed  now. 

The  next  morning  we  rode  down  a  stream  on  a  splen- 
did road  that  went  to  Jaffa.  On  the  banks  of  this  creek 
that  emptied  its  water  into  the  Mediterranean,  grow  the 
richest  vegetation,  the  finest  olive  trees,  and  most  luxu- 
riant gardens.  We  also  passed  about  a  dozen  flouring 
mills  run  by  water  power.  No  dams  were  built  across 
the  stream  but  a  long  race  carried  the  water  until  a  fall 
of  twenty  feet  could  be  secured,  then  in  an  aqueduct 
made  of  stone  the  water  is  carried  to  the  centrifugal 
wheel  which  is  the  only  power  we  saw  used  in  Palestine. 
We  saw  one  turned  by  concussion  in  Syra.  I  dis- 
mounted and  entered  one  of  these;  the  stones  were 
about  three  feet  in  diameter,  the  upper  one  was  about 
six  inches  thick,  without  a  hoop,  while  the  flour,  un- 
bolted, ran  out  in  a  depressed  place  on  the  floor.  The 
miller  was  standing  barefooted  in  the  grist ;  two  or  three 
donkeys  and  as  many  dogs  were  standing  around  near 
enough  to  begin  a  meal  the  moment  the  guard  (the 
miller)  should  leave  his  charge. 

We  leave  the  good  road  and  take  a  bridle  path  to 
Samaria,  the  old  capitol  of  Samaria,  two  hours  dist- 
ant. A  hundred  columns,  monoliths,  some  in  situ, 
marking  the  course  of  the  vast  colonnade  three  fourths 
of  a  mile  long,  some  scattered  over  the  fields  tell  of 
a  magnificence  and  splendor  worthy  of  the  Roman 
that  whilom  ruled  this  ruined  realm. 

"  Sixteen  columns  on  the  topmost  terrace  are  still  thought  to 
mark  the  site  of  Baals  temple  which  Jehu  demolished— 2  Kings, 
10.''~Land  and  Book.  But  all  that  is  left  of  the  ancient  palatial 
and  colonnade  splendor  are  some  rowg  of  stone  pillars,  twenty 
feet  in  height,  three  feet  in  diameter,  and  still  retaining  some 
of  the  polished  surface  which  glistened  in  beauty  two  thousand 


179 

years  ago.  The  situation  of  Samaria  is  remarkable.  It  is  on  a 
lofty  hill,  with  a  ring  of  still  loftier  hills  surrounding  it.  Aval- 
ley  ring  and  a  mountain  ring  are  its  double  engirdling  of  beauty 
and  strength.  The  sides  of  the  central  hill,  upon  which  sat  the 
capitol  of  Israel,  slope  down  to  the  valley,  and  bear  remains  of 
buildings  and  terraces.  On  the  northern  side,  and  near  the 
base  of  the  hill,  are  several  rows  of  massive  stone  pillars.  The 
situation  alone  gives  us  a  fair  idea  of  what  it  used  to  be  in  at- 
tractiveness and  natural  strength.  After  looking  at  it  I  did  not 
marvel  that  it  took  the  Assyrians  three  years  to  secure  its  cap- 
ture. 

It  was  in  this  city  that  w^as  begun  the  idolatry  that  proved 
the  ruin  of  Israel.  Here  Elijah  came  and  preached  to  Ahab 
and  Jezebel.  Naaman,  with  his  chariots  and  gold  and  his  lep- 
rosy, visited  this  city,  seeking  relief.  Elisha  lived  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  afterward  in  the  city  itself,  as  the  scripture  tells 
us  that  he  was  there  during  a  certain  siege.  It  was  here  tha* 
occurred  several  scenes  that  have  always  peculiarly  and  power- 
fully impressed  me.  It  was  on  one  of  these  mountains  before 
us  that  Elisha's  servant  saw  the  horseman  and  chariots  of  the 
heavenly  army.  On  the  walls  here  walked  "the  king  in  hitherto 
concealed  suffering  of  mind,  until  the  wind  blew  aside  his  cloak 
and  the  tortured  body  was  revealed.  Across  that  valley  sped 
the  lepers  in  the  moonlight  to  the  vacant  camp  of  the  besiegers. 
Over  those  hills  in  the  distance  swept  the  strange  sound  that 
affrightened  a  whole  army  and  put  them  to  flight ;  and  under- 
neath the  walls  of  this  place  Elisha  led  an  army  blinded  by  the 
power  of  God,  and  then  transformed  them  all  into  the  lasting 
friends  of  Israel  by  kind  treatment — good  piece  of  gospel  let 
down  into  Old  Testnment  times.  Here  Philip  preached  the 
gospel  with  great  success,  and  here  Piter  withstood  Simon  the 
Sorcerer." —  Carradine. 

We  leave  this  desolate  city  and  pass  through  charm- 
ing landscapes  ;  far  away  on  every  hand,  nestled  under 
the  hills,  are  towns  that  look  pretty  in  the  distance,  a 
circumstance  that  always  helps  a  Mohammedan  town. 
We  passed  through  one — Jeb-a — where  the  children 
came  out  and  cried  after  us  ''  goon,"  "leave  herel"  "you 
are  infidels  !"    "  you  will  all  go  to  hell !"    "  God  will  not 


180 

give  you  long  life !"  "  you  are  Nazarenes,"  &c.  We 
met  another  large  caravan  of  Damascus  merchants  go- 
ing down  to  Joppa  or  Egypt.  We  pass  Sitniir  on  a  high 
hill  and  the  last  fortress  to  yield  to  Ibrahim  Pasha  when 
he  overran  this  country,  Dothan,  where  Joseph's  breth- 
ren were  feeding  their  flocks  when  he  visited  them  and 
met  such  unkind  return  for  his  beneficence,  and  where 
Benhadad  sought  Elisha,  and  his  men  were  stricken 
with  blindness — 2  Kings,  6.  We  stop  for  the  night  at 
Jenin,  on  the  boundary  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon.  It  is 
a  well  watered  town  containing  about  four  thousand  in- 
habitants. There  is  no  hotel  there  and  we  lodged  with 
an  Arab.  They  gave  us  the  principal  room  in  the 
house.  The  floor  was  covered  with  matting  for  a  carpet. 
Some  real  fine  paintings  were  on  the  wall ;  and  they  gave 
us  an  excellent  dinner  of  soup,  pigeons,  sheep  and  veg- 
etables, including  plent}^  of  lettuce,  which  has  no  sub- 
stitute nor  rival  in  the  world,  as  they  grow  it  and 
prepare  it. 

While  we  were  eating,  however,  our  dragoman  and 
the  Arabs  in  the  yard  had  some  bitter  words.  I  think 
it  was  about  our  stopping  in  the  town,  as  they  used  the 
word  Christian  and  Nazarene  a  good  deal.  He  would 
not  tell  us  the  cause,  which  confirmed  my  conviction 
that  I  had  conjectured  aright.  He  left  them  and  came 
in  and  closed  the  door,  not,  however,  until  they  had 
thrown  a  stone  or  two.  I  made  bodily  j^rotection  a  mat- 
ter of  special  prayer  that  evening.  A  Christian  mis- 
sionary (Catholic)  had  been  driven  from  the  town,  and 
where  Catholics  can't  retain  a  hold,  it  is  not  the  place  to 
be  careless  in.  We  found  a  body  of  soldiers  in  a  few 
yards  of  our  dwelling  next  morning,  and  to  them,  under 
God's  good  providence,  we  may  have  owed  our  safety. 


181 

The  Arabs  failing  to  kill  us  the  fleas  tried.  Mr.  M., 
who  was  tender  and  afforded  good  pasturage,  remarked 
that  one  could  stand  two  or  three  hundred  fleas,  but 
when  they  came  by  baskets  full  and  bushels,  the  supply 
was  beyond  the  demand,  reminding  one  of  the  boarder 
at  school  who  said  he  did  not  mind  hash  for  sixty  or 
seventy  meals,  but  when  it  became  a  regular  thing  he 
got  tired  of  it.  We  survived  them,  however,  and  arose 
next  morning  to  pursue  our  way  over  the  battle-field  of 
the  world — the  Plains  of  Jezreel.  It  is  ravishingly 
beautiful  as  a  tract  of  country,  and  possessed  of  a  histo- 
ry that  will  ever  claim  a  share  of  the  research  and  study 
of  the  historian  and  antiquarian.  Thothmes  III,  before 
the  Exodus  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  and  Necho 
fought  here.  Here  fell  Ahab  and  Ahaziah,  Jehoram  and 
Jezebel,  Sisera  and  Saul.  The  following  is  our  diary 
for  that  day,  March  21 : 

"Leaving  our  dwelling  at  7  o'clock  we  go  out  by  a 
very  large  crystal  fountain,  source  of  Kishon,  pass  a 
large  Khan,  full  of  Arab  travelers,  the  Pasha's  to  the 
right  and  a  mosque  to  the  left,  and  in  two  minutes  are 
on  the  plain.  Jenin  is  full  of  gardens,  cactus  and  palm- 
trees.  Twenty  miles  or  less  to  our  left  is  Mt.  Carmel ; 
on  each  side  the  fellahs  (farmers)  are  weeding  the  wheat 
and  barley  ;  the  air  is  vocal  with  the  songs  of  birds,  and 
misty  clouds,  just  enough  to  temper  the  rays  of  the 
ascending  sun,  are  flitting  about.  Soon  we  descry  Mt. 
Hermon,  covered  with  snow,  far  to  the  north,  Mt.  Tabor 
to  the  north-east,  and  Gilboa  to  the  south-east.  We  are 
in  the  midst  of  the  plain,  every  acre  of  which  has 
drunk  the  blood  of  fallen  warriors.  It  is  well  cultivated 
for  Arab  farmers,  and  very  fruitful,  but  the  poor  fellah 
is  robbed  by  the  government  of  all  except  the  scantiest 


182 

support ;  to  be  tardy  in  paying  tax  is  a  crime  severely 
punished.  The  collectors  go  in  pairs,  often  in  squads  of 
four  and  six,  armed  with  swords  and  repeating  rifles. 
They  levy  on  olive  trees  and  collect  for  them  before  they 
bloom.  Arabs  have  taken  the  sword  and  literally  perish 
by  the  sword  in  the  hand  of  the  tax-gatherer.  We  come 
in  two  hours  to  Jezreel,  home  of  Jezebel,  Ahab,  and 
Naboth,  of  Jehu,  Jehoram  and  Gideon.  Jezreel  is  on  a 
hill,  the  first  of  the  Gilboa  range  from  the  west.  The 
houses  are  ail  built  of  mud. 

We  pass  Fuleh,  scene  of  the  battle  of  Mt.  Tabor,  1799, 
where  Kheber,  with  fifteen  hundred  French  soldiers 
fought  twenty-five  thousand  Turks  for  six  hours,  when 
Napoleon  came  up  with  six  hundred  more  and  routed 
them.  Here  at  hand  is  the  part  of  the  plain  where 
Gideon,  with  his  three  hundred  t  lat  lapped  vanquished 
the  PhiUstines  by  night.  There  they  in  turn  triumphed 
over  Saul  the  day  after  he  had  gone  over  yon  hilf 
to  consult  the  witch  whose  cave  is  in  Endor,  just  behind. 

One  or  two  miles  to  the  east  are  the  "high  places" — 1 
Sam.  29 ;  2  Sam.  1:  19-27.  And  sparkling  in  the  sun- 
light to  our  right  are  the  waters  of  Gideon's  fountain, 
w^here  his  thirsty  troops  lapped  water  as  a  dog — Judg. 
7:  6.  Before  we  are  done  taking  in  these  things  our 
horses  have  walked  into  Shunem,  scene  of  Elisha's  la- 
bors, where  lived  that  woman  with  such  correct  ideas 
of  taste  and  political  econom}^  as  to  have  her  husband 
build  a  room  to  their  house  for  the  preacher.  If  any 
would  learn  how  she  was  paid  many  fold  let  him  read 
2  Kings,  4:  8-37.  Mt.  Carmel,  to  which  she  made  her 
servant  drive  the  donkey  in  a  trot,  without  stopping,  is 
in  sight  about  fifteen  miles  west.  Shunem  is  surround- 
ed by  a  wall  of  living  cactus,  through  which  no  living 
animal  much  larger  than  a  rat  could  pass. 


183 

A  mile  beyond  the  town  we  pass  a  Bedouin  encamp- 
ment; they  are  flaying  a  sheep  of  the  species  called  "fat- 
tail."  The  tail  is  about  the  ordinary  length  of  a  sheep's 
tail,  but  except  the  bone  and  skin  is  a  solid  lump  of  fat 
weighing  sometimes  lorty  pounds,  and  is  used  by  the  na- 
tives for  butter  ! 

We  dine  at  Nain  in  a  Catholic  church,  or  rather  in  a 
room  joining  the  church.  Here  was  performed  the 
miracle  recorded  in  Luke  7:  12-15:  "Now  when  he  came 
nigh  to  the  gate  of  the  city,  behold,  there  was  a  dead 
man  carried  out,  the  only  son  of  his  mother,  and  she 
was  a  widow :  and  much  people  of  the  city  w^as  with 
her.  And  when  the  Lord  saw  her  he  had  compassion 
on  her,  and  said  unto  her,  weep  not.  And  he  came  and 
touched  the  bier :  and  they  that  bare  him  stood  still. 
And  he  said,  Young  man,  I  say  unto  thee,  Arise.  And 
he. that  was  dead  sat  up,  and  began  to  speak.  And  he 
delivered  him  to  his  mother."  It  is  now  a  miserable 
Arab  village,  about  three  miles  from  Endor,  whither  we 
go  to  look  into  the  cave  visited  by  Saul  the  night  pre- 
ceding his  death.  The  cave  is  there ;  so  are  others  ;  so 
we  looked  into  it  and  some  others  also  ;  a  large  one  is 
shown  as  the  real  scene  of  the  dialogue — 1  Sam.  28:  11- 
19.  A  surly  Turk  was  sitting  in  the  cave  when  w^e  visit- 
ed it.  He  had  a  sword,  but  did  not  speak  nor  strike. 
Here  we  saw  many  bee-gums  on  the  roofs  of  the 
mud  houses,  and  quantities  of  bees  very  busy  carrying 
honey  into  gums  made  of  mud.  It  is  tw^o  hours  ride 
from  this  place  to  the  top  of  Mt.  Tabor,  where  we  go  to 
spend  the  night. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


MT.  TABOR,  SEA  OF  GALILEE,  NAZARETH. 


While  some  doubt  shades  the  title  of  Tabor  to  the 
honor  of  the  scene  of  our  Lord's  transfiguration,  we  gave 
it  the  benefit  of  our  sanction,  and  tried  to  feel  that  near 
by  us  somewhere  that  august  event  occurred. 

Napoleon  had  been  here,  we  cared  not  for  that,  Alex- 
ander perhaps,  the  Crusaders,  Barak  and  Deborah  and 
even  Melchizedek.  Each  had  engaged  in  conflicts  affect- 
ing the  destiny  of  nations,  to  greater  or  less  extent,  but 
not  for  any  nor  all  of  these  would  we  have  gone  thither. 
We  hoped  to  come  if  possible  where  the  Son  of  Mary  was 
made  so  glorious  before  His  Brethren's  eyes. 

We  went  up  a  zig-zag  road  through  a  thin  forest  of 
low  scrubby  oaks,  the  summit  is  nearly  level  and  ellip- 
tical in  shape,  being  about  five  hundred  yards  long  by 
three  hundred  wide.  Old  walls  and  fortifications  scat- 
tered in  confused  masses  cover  the  entire  top.  It  is 
about  eighteen  hundred  feet  high,  standing  alone  in  the 
plain. 

From  a  certain  point  both  the  Mediterranean  and  Sea 
of  Galilee  are  visible,  the  country  of  Bashan  and  most 
of  central  Palestine  and  all  of  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon. 
Nazareth  fifteen  miles  across  the  plains  among  the  hills 
may  be  plainly  seen. 

A  great  educator  from  Massachusetts  asked  me,  if  T 
had  to  obliterate  from  memory  all  that  I  had  seen  in  the 


185 

Holy  Land  with  a  single  exception  which  particular 
thing  or  place  would  I  retain?  Finding  it  difficult 
to  decide  he  quickened  my  thought  by  mentioning 
Esdraelon. 

The  Russians  or  Greeks  and  Latins  both  have  churches 
here,  and  priests  but  no  worshipers.  We  spent  the 
night  with  the  latter,  cut  a  nice  walking  stick  or  two, 
some  pen-holders,  and  read  up  such  history  as  we  had 
in  the  Bible  and  guide-books  relating  to  Mt.  Tabor. 

Next  morning  we  rode  across  the  plains  passing  a  fair 
of  which  a  missionary  testifies  : 

"  The  noise  is  incessant,  and  at  a  distance  sounds  like  that  "of 
many  waters,"  Every  man  is  crying  his  wares  at  the  top  of  his 
voice,  chickens  cackle  and  squall,  donkeys  bray  and  fight,  and 
the  dogs  bark.  Every  living  thing  adds  somewhat  to  the  many- 
toned  and  prodigious  uproar.  It  is  now  a  miscellaneous  comedy 
in  full  operation  where  every  actor  does  his  best,  and  is  su- 
premely gratified  at  his  own  performance. 

The  people  find  many  reasons  for  sustaining  these  antiquated 
and  very  curious  gatherings.  Every  man,  woman,  and  child 
has  inherited  the  itch  for  trading,  and,  of  course,  all  classes  meet 
at  this  grand  bourse  to  talk  over  the  state  of  the  markets,  from 
the  price  of  a  cucumber  to  that  of  a  $5,000  horse  from  the 
Hauran.  They  meet  to  talk  of  the  news.  These  fairs  are  the 
daily  newspaper,  and  there  is  one  for  every  day  within  a  cir- 
cuit of  forty  miles.  They  are  the  exchange  and  forwarding  office, 
corresponding  to  our  markets,  fairs,  conventions,  picnics,  excur- 
sions, etc." 

Millions  of  bees  gathered  sweets  from  nature's  pro- 
digal gardens,  through  which  also  shepherd  boys  tended 
hundreds  of  sheep,  and  goats  with  ears  a  foot  in  length, 
making  them  equally  as  conspicuous  as  the  fat-tail 
sheep.  About  noon  our  dragoman,  who  rode  in  front  of 
us  reined  up  his  horse  and   turned  him  around,  saying 

BACKSHEESH !   by  which  he  meant  I  have  led  you  to  a 
12 


186 

sight  worth  plenty  of  money,  and  so  he  had.  In  one 
minute  more  we  paused  at  the  top  of  a  hill  that  descended 
suddenly  for  a  thousand  feet;  under  the  hill  lay  the  city 
of  Tiberias  in  the  margm  of  the  sea  of  the  same  name. 
The  sea  of  Galilee  is  thirteen  miles  long  by  seven  wide, 
greatest  diameters,  and  666  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Its  surface  was  pretty  smooth,  except 
here  and  there  it  appeared  to  be  the  play-place  of  just 
the  tiniest  zephyrs  which  would  go  in  every  direction, 
never  staying  long  enough  nor  yet  hastening  strong 
enough  to  more  than  betray  their  presence  and  make  a 
picture  as  by  one  magic  touch. 

"  The  winds  with  wonder  whist, 
Smoothly  the  waters  kissed." 

The  lake  is  girt  about  by  a  plain  in  places  one  or  two 
miles  wide.  We  walk  down  this  dreadful  hill,  take  din- 
ner, get  a  boat  and  go  to  Tel- Hum  or  Capernaum,  now 
desolate  ;  go  through  the  ruins  over-run  with  weeds,  stand 
on  the  foundation  of  an  old  church  supposed  to  be  the 
one  built  by  that  Roman  who  wished  Jesus  to  heal  his 
servant — Luke  7:3-5,  and  the  synagogue  in  which  Jesus 
often  preached.  I  looked  over  the  desolate  place  and 
thought  of  his  reproofs,  when  this  was  his  home.  Here 
he  called  Peter,  James  and  John ; — here  he  delivered  that 
most  remarkable  discourse — John  6. 

It  is  a  never-to-be-forgotten  object  lesson  one  learns  in 
wandering  amongst  these  cities  once  so  populous,  once 
so  blessed,  now  so  forsaken. 

We  return  by  Bethsaida  (fish  town).  Nothing  re- 
mains of  it  but  a  mill.  We  gathered  some  shells  for 
far-awav  friends,  saw  our  boatmen  catch  a  nice  draught 
of  fishes,  and  returned  througli  the  darkness.     The  jack- 


187 

als  screamed  and  howled  on  the  shore.     We  were  under 
a  clear  sky  and  gazed  up  at  the 

"  stars  that  shine  nightly  on  blue  GaUlee." 

The  wind  arose  and  we  talked  of  the  night  that  fol- 
lowed the  miracle  of  feeding  the  five  thousand  when  the 
disciples  were  in  such  evil  plight.  We  read  all  the  refer- 
ences to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  the  Gospels  became,  in 
a  sense,  new  to  us. 

Next  morning  I  went  out  and  took  a  bath  in  the  pel- 
lucid lake,  picked  up  a  smooth  stone,  rode  down  to  see 
the  Sulphur  Spring,  where  baths  may  be  had  in  a  well 
fitted  bathroom  free  of  charge.  They  are  said  to  be  very 
potent  in  curing  rheumatism.  The  temperature  of  these 
springs  is  128°  Fah,  and  when  we  visited  them  the 
rooms  were  so  filled  with  sulphurous  vapor  that  one 
could  hardly  breathe  in  them. 

Our  next  objective  point  is  Nazareth.  We  pass,  on 
the  way,  the  Mount  of  the  Beatitudes,  by  which  the 
Crusaders  fought  their  last  battle  and  were  vanquished 
by  the  Moslems  under  Saladin,  A.  D.  1187.  We  reach 
Cana  about  noon  and  take  lunch  in  a  pomegranate  gar- 
den, Drs.  Burkley  and  Bancroft  ride  by,  going  towards 
Tiberias.  We  all  wish  to  see  the  jars  w^iich  held  the 
wine  made  of  water  by  Jesus,  at  the  wedding,  but  the 
Greeks  and  Catholics  have  possession  of  them  (if  they 
exist  at  all)  and  are  quarreling  about  whose  they  are, 
and  we  were  debarred  the  privilege.  Going  over  the 
same  road  Jesus  so  often  traveled  from  Nazareth  to 
Capernaum,  we  reached  Nazareth  Saturday  afternoon 
about  3  o'clock  and  stayed  until  Monday  morning. 

We  took  a  guide  and  went  to  the  precipitous  place 
over  which  the  wicked  Jews  purposed  throwing  Jesus, 


188 

called  the  Hill  of  Precipitation.  "  And  all  they  in  the 
synagogue,  when  they  heard  these  things,  were  filled 
with  wrath,  and  rose  up,  and  thrust  him  out  of  the  city, 
and  led  him  unto  the  brow  of  the  hill  whereon  their 
city  was  built,  that  they  might  cast  him  down  headlong. 
But  he,  passing  through  the  midst  of  them,  went  his  way." 
— Luke  4:28-30.  I  attended  the  Episcopal  Mission 
church  in  the  forenoon  and  looked  through  their  splen- 
did Female  College  in  the  afternoon,  where  about  80  or 
100  girls  are  being  educited  and  Christianized.  They 
also  have  seven  other  schools  in  the  country  around, 
superintended  by  Miss  Edith  Gaze  Brown.  These  girls 
are  to  become  wives  and  mothers  some  of  these  days,  and 
that  of  the  best  people  of  the  country .  They  are  sowing 
good  seed  in  a  fruitful  field.  I  should  say  that  this 
mission  belongs  to  the  "Ladies'  Evangelical  Society  in 
the  East,"  whose  headquaters  are  in  London.  They  re- 
peat Psalms,  and  sing  from  "Gospel  Hymns"  in  Sunday 
School  and  also  use  the  International  Lessons.  The 
tourists  spending  Sabbath  in  Nazareth  were  invited  to 
tea  in  the  college  Sabbath  evening  and  addresses  were 
made  by  several  clergymen. 

In  Xazareth  one  is  shown  Joseph's  house,  work-shop, 
Church  of  the  Annunciation,  and  a  stone  over  which  a 
church  is  built,  on  which  it  is  claimed  Jesus  ate  with 
his  disciples  before  and  after  his  resurrection,  though 
the  evidence  to  establish  the  truth  of  these  claims  is 
not  very  satisfactory. 

We  ascended  the  hill  to  the  Wely  Sem'ftn,  (tomb  of 
Simeon)  above  the  town.  We  can  see  Acre  and  the  Sea; 
beyond  Esdraelon  and  the  intervening  hills,  the  plain 
of  Sharon.  While  enjoying  this  sumptuous  panoramic 
fea^t  three  young  men  came  up,  one  of  whom  was  near- 


189 

]y  blind,  (20  per  cent,  of  these  people  have  injured  eyes.) 
He  told  me  he  would  give  me  a  hundred  dollars  to  cure 
his  eyes  ;  a  more  impossible  task  was  never  presented. 
I  thought  of  my  weakness,  and  at  the  same  time  of  the 
power  of  Him  whose  bo34iood  was  spent  in  the  city  be- 
low and  on  these  hills  and  plains,  who  undertook  just 
such  a  case  while  he  lived,  and  whose  power  was  not 
shortened  because  He  had  moved  His  dwehing  place. 
I  preached  unto  him  Jesus.  He  was  a  Christian.  They 
drew  a  Bible  on  me  to  know  on  what  I  based  my  belief 
that  Jesus  would  heal  his  eyes.  I  told  him  to  read  John 
14:  13-14.  He  said  he  would  pray  for  eye-sight,  and  I 
promised  to  pray  for  him. 

They  left  me  and  went  off  to  an  olive  tree,  under 
which  they  sat  down  to  read  the  book  they  had  and 
ponder  no  doubt  upon  the  liberal  construction  they  had 
just  heard  put  upon  its  announcements.  As  I  looked 
at  them  I  thought  of  the  boyhood  of  Jesus,  who  must 
often  have  climbed  these  hills  to  gaze  at  the  snow-cov- 
ered mountains  in  the  north,  the  luxuriant  plain  below 
and  the  great  sea  beyond.  Yes,  all  these,  so  delightful 
to  me,  were  all  familiar  to  Him.  He  must  often  have 
lingered  here  till  twilight  softened  the  scene  and  dark- 
ness shut  out  air  but  His  own  thoughts  upon  human 
life,  man's  folly  and  his  danger,  his  possible  attainment 
and  the  effort  he  purposed  putting  forth  to  rescue  us; 
His  conflict  with  evil  and  error.  His,  rejection  and 
death,  that  life  might  become  a  more  stupendous  reality 
to  man,  and  immortality  might  be  brought  to  light. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


MT.  CARMELIAND  THE  COASTS  OF  TYRE 
AND  SID  ON. 


Leaving  Nazareth  we  reach  Haifa  under  Mt.  Carmel 
in  six  hours,  passing  on  the  way  several  small  towns, 
some  among  the  hills  built  of  stone,  some  on  the  plain, 
of  mud.  We  met  between  thirty  and  forty  women,  with 
large  copper  basins  filled  with  milk,  holding  five  or  six 
gallons  each,  going  to  Nazareth.  Several  men  were 
with  them,  but  they  rode  donkeys,  never  deigning  to 
touch  the  loads  carried  by  their  wives,  mothers  and 
sisters.  That  is  the  custom  here  ;  the  women  are  on  a 
level  with  the  donkeys,  as  laborers.  We  find  a  good 
hotel,  dine,  and  spend  the  afternoon  going  through  the 
German  colony,  which  is  a  model  in  its  way.  It  is  a 
cosmos  in  miniature.  Next  morning  I  went  with  our 
muleteer  to  the  top  of  Mt.  Carmel.  The  Catholics  have 
a  church  over  the  cave  in  which  Elijah  hid,  when  Ahab 
sought  his  life.  Near  by  is  the  cave  in  which  Obadiah 
is  said  to  have  hid  the  fifty  prophets — 1  Kings  28:  13. 
Napoleon  used  this  church  for  a  hospital  when  he  be- 
sieged Acre,  twelve  miles  across  or  around  the  bay,  in 
1799. 

Haifa  is  a  seaport.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  are  Chris- 
tians and  Germans.  They  seem  very  thrifty,  and  came 
here  to  have  religious  liberty  as  our  pilgrim  fore-fathers 
came  to  America.  I  do  not  understand  their  creed, 
however,  even  after  hearing  it  explained.     The  govern- 


191 

ment  is  macadamizing  a  road  from  this  place  to  Tiberias 
by  Nazareth  and  Cana.  From  this  point  telegraph  wires 
run  to  Jerusalem,  Shechem,  Tiberias,  Nazareth,  Beirut. 

There  are  many  nice  orange  groves  and  vineyards 
here,  and  much  wheat  is  shipped  hence  to  France  and 
Spain.  In  the  afternoon  of  next  day  we  rode  around 
the  bay,  crossed  the  Kishon,  "that  ancient  River  Kishon," 
on  whose  banks  Elijah  slew  the  prophets  of  Baal — 1 
Kings,  18:  40,  It  is  a  small  stream,  barely  large  enough 
to  turn  a  mill  at  this  season,  though  large  enough  ta 
sweep  away  companies  of  soldiers  under  Sisera's  retreat. 

We  stopped  for  the  night  in  Acre,  called  also  Ptole- 
mais  and  St.  John  d'Acre.  It  is  the  "Key  of  Palestine," 
has  been  besieged  and  burnt  often.  Its  history  goes 
back  to  the  Egyptian  kings,  centuries  B.  C,  and  it 
figured  largely  in  the  crusades.  Its  present  population 
is  5,000,  of  whom  700  are  Cln-istians,  the  remainder 
Mohametans. 

A  German  preacher,  named  Bitzer,  joined  us  here 
and  traveled  with  us  the  rest  of  the  way. 

I  and  Isa  (our  dragoman)  took  a  boat  and  went  out 
to  the  steamer  on  which  Mr.  M.  was  going  to  Beirut,  to 
see  how  he  was  getting  on.  There  were  about  twenty 
Arab  boats  laden  wdth  w^heat,  destined  to  some 
distant  market.  While  we  were  on  the  steamer  all  bu- 
siness was  suspended  and  the  greatest  possible  uproar 
began.  I  thought  one  of  the  wheat  boats  was  sinking, 
but  the  confusion  increased  to  such  an  extent  I  con- 
cluded the  steamer  w^as  going  down.  The  Arabs  (about 
one  hundred  of  them)  were  all  talking  at  once;  some  of 
them  were  frantic  and  gesticulated  like  madmen.  I 
could  not  understand  a  word  they  said,  but  knew  that 
something  awful  had  happened  or  was  about  to  happen, 


192 

so  I  told  Isa  to  let  us  be  going.  He  laughed,  and  told 
me  the  occasion  of  the  excitement,  as  follows:  One  of 
the  crew  had  smiled  at  a  Mussulman  who  was  praying 
on  the  deck  of  the  boat,  (a  very  common  thing),  the 
Arab  had  seen  himj  and  wanted  him  punished  by  the 
officers  of  the  ship,  and  all  the  rest  were  in  sympathy 
with  the  aggrieved  devotee. 

In  the  twelfth  century  more  than  ten  times  the  pres- 
ent population  were  killed  here  during  a  single  siege. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  Khalit-Ibn-Khalaem,  Sultan 
of  Egypt,  besieged  and  captured  it  in  thirtj^-three  days 
and  slew  25,000  Christians,  many  of  w^hom  (ladies)  cut 
their  own  noses  off  to  escape  more  barbarous  treatment. 
Many  remnants  of  the  crusaders  may  still  be  seen, 
notably  the  old  church  of  St.  John,  and  a  hospital.  We 
drank  from  a  fountain  of  brackish  water,  said  to  have 
wrought  miraculous  cures.  But  the  greatest  honor  the 
place  has  ever  known  is  recorded  in  Acts  xxi:  7. 

Leaving  Acre  next  morning  we  saw  many  people 
gathered  on  the  outside  of  the  city  gate.  They  were 
both  from  the  town  and  country,  the  former  had  come 
out  to  buy  the  vegetables,  the  latter  had  brought  to  sell, 
which  were  auctioned  off  by  the  donkey  load  without 
unloading  the  beast.  The  following  articles  were  selling 
at  different  stations  as  we  passed  :  Onions,  carrots,  pota- 
toes, lettuce  and  other  salads,  oranges  lemons,  milk  and 
curds.     They  are  sold  outside  the  gate  to  avoid  taxation. 

A  splendid  aqueduct  brings  water  from  the  mountains 
to  the  town.  We  ride  by  this  about  ten  miles.  Our 
road  now  lies  to  the  north  and  passes  through  rich  plains 
in  which  are  groves  of  oranges  and  lemons.  We  dine 
at  Khan  de  Rhauna  on  fresh  fish,  which  they  catch  in  a 
large  circular  net  by  wading  out  into  the  surf  until  the 


193 

fish  comes  in  sight  when  the  net  which  has  been  slightly 
twisted  is  thrown  like  a  lasso,  and  having  a  leadline 
sinks  down  rapidl}^  around  the  fish,  the  leadline  is 
pulled  up  then  to  a  focus  by  a  draw  string,  a  hole  is  left 
in  the  top  just  large  enough  to  take  out  the  fish. 

We  pass  over  White  Cape,  where  the  road  is  cut 
around  the  cliff"  five  hundred  feet  above  the  water  and  a 
stumbling  or  misstep  of  the  horse  would  precipitate  the 
rider  into  the  sea.  This  is  the  old  Roman  road  leading 
from  Caesarea  to  Antioch.  We  descend  into  the  plains 
filled  with  old  wells  and  stone  troughs,  and  walls,  and 
steps,  remnants  of  Hiram's  Tyre,  which  was  nineteen 
miles  in  circumference.  We  pass  near  by  Hiram's  tomb 
and  ride  into  Tyre  and  to  the  house  of  Abdul  Malak 
(Servant  of  the  Angel).  There  are  ruins  here  that  would 
tempt  the  archaeologist  and  antiquarian  to  linger  many 
a  day. 

The  wharf  is  built  of  polished  columns  of  stone  that 
once  supported  domes  of  palaces  and  temples  "  of  per- 
fect beauty."  Massive  pillars  of  red  granite,  monoliths, 
a  section  of  which  looks  like  a  heart  cut  of  stone,  and 
twenty-five  feet  long  by  four  in  diameter,  and  smaller 
pieces  lie  scattered  all  about,  marking  the  tracks  of  the 
destroyers,  which  Ezekiel,  chaps,  xxvii-xxviii,  said 
would  come  this  way.  Tyre  was  built  2350  B.  C,  and 
with  her  parent,  Sidon,  taught  navigation  to  the  world, 
and  colonized  Carthage.  Earthquakes,  fire,  the  sea  and 
war  have  all  exhausted  their  resources  upon  Tyre. 
Tyre  and  Sidon  were  given  to  Asher  in  the  division  of 
Canaan  but  they  never  got  possession  of  them.  The 
Israelites  were  feeders  to  them  and  they  were  necessary 
to  the  Israelites,  possibly  until  they  became  so  amalga- 
mated, especially  in  religion,  as  to  have  all  things  in 


194 

common,  peaceably.  A  huge  mound  stands  by  the  way 
just  before  reaching  Tyre;  on  this  it  is  said  once  stood 
the  temple  of  Hercules. 

From  Tj^re  to  Sidon  we  cross  the  Leontes  River,  called 
here  Xahr-el-Kasineiyeh,  on  a  beautiful  stone  bridge 
supported  by  a  single  arch  sixty  feet  wide,  the  ruined 
city  of  Ornithopolis,  the  Cave-temple  of  Astarte,  Sarep- 
ta,  now  in  ruins,  and  a  house  of  white  stone  on  the  site 
of  the  house  of  the  widow  that  fed  Elijah. — 1  Kings, 
17:  9-16.  Every  inch  of  this  ground  has  been  employed 
in  making  the  history  of  our  race,  and  imagination  re- 
peoples  it,  rebuilds  its  cities,  with  streets  full  of  business 
and  romping  children,  its  temples  resounding  with  As- 
tarte's  praise,  repaints  its  battle  scenes  of  holocaust  and 
ca23tive's  clanking  chains,  feels  again  the  earthquake's 
shock,  and  trembles  at  the  terrible  vengeance  of  the 
Almighty  angered. 

"Therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God;  Behold,  I  am 
against  thee,  0  Tyrus,  and  will  cause  many  nations  to 
come  up  against  thee  as  the  sea  causeth  her  waves  to 
come  up.  And  they  shall  destroy  the  w^alls  of  Tyrus, 
and  break  down  her  towers;  ....  and  they  shall 
lay  thy  stones  and  thy  timber  and  thy  dust  in  the  midst 
of  the  water.  And  I  will  cause  the  noise  of  thy  songs 
to  cease:  and  the  sound  of  thy  harps  shall  be  no  more 
heard.  And  I  will  make  thee  like  the  top  of  a  rock  : 
thou  shalt  be  a  place  to  spread  nets  upon;  thou  shalt  be 
built  no  more :  for  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it,  saith  the 
Lord  God."— Ezk.  26. 

We  stop  at  a  good  hotel  at  Sidon,  kept  by  an  Arab. 
The  parlor,  saloon,  and  bed-rooms  are  on  the  second 
floor,  while  some  shops  foce  the  street  on  the  lower  story. 
The  whole  building  surrounds  an  open  court  about  fifty 


195 

feet  square,  where  the  horses  and  donkeys  are  kept. 
The  latter  kept  up  a  constant  braying  which  preveats 
one  from  becoming  lonesome. 

The  saloon  accommodates  from  one  to  two  hundred 
guests.  It  is  fitted  up  with  tables  for  billiards,  cards, 
backgammon,  checkers,  &c.,  &c.,  for  all  the  city  Arabs 
gamble  and  smoke  all  day  and  often  till  midnight. 

Our  dragoman  had  been  cross  and  negligent  the  day 
w^e  reached  Sidon;  I  had  seemed  displeased.  That 
evening  after  supper  he  came  into  my  room  and  begged 
my  pardon,  took  my  hand,  put  it  to  his  forehead  and 
kissed  it,  and  took  it  several  times  to  repeat  his  professed 
submission  to  my  will.  I  tried  to  think  him  sincere, 
forgave  him,  and  dismissed  him  seemingly  satisfied. 

Sidon  is  a  very  ancient  city  and  was  so  named  prob- 
ably in  consequence  of  its  having  been  a  fishery.  (Saida 
means  fish).  It  was  built  by  the  grandson  of  Noah,  and 
invented  the  art  of  navigation,  carpentry,  sculpture, 
making  glass,  stone  cutting,  casting  iron,  &c. — Josephus, 
b.  1:  6. 

The  present  population  numbers  about  12,000,  of 
w^hom  2,500  are  christians,  300  are  Jew^s.  Nearly  all 
of  these,  however,  belong  to  the  Greek  and  Latin  church- 
es ;  but  there  is  a  Protestant  school  doing  a  good  work, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  church  of  England. 

The  road  from  Sidon  to  Beirut  is  the  roughest  w^e  have 
traveled  over,  though  the  French  soldiers  made  a  splen- 
did road  here  only  a  few  scores  of  years  ago,  but  it  is 
ruined  now.  Every  two  or  three  miles  on  all  the  im- 
portant roads  of  Palestine  and  Syria  there  is  a  little 
stone  house  built,  called  a  guard  house.  We  were  glad 
to  see  that  traveling  had  got  to  be  very  safe,  as  indicated 
by  the  absence  of  the  guards  from  most  of  these. 


196 

We  pass  over  the  battle  ground  of  Ptolemy  and  An- 
tiochus  the  Great,  fought  218  B.  C,  and  where  tradition 
says  the  whale  left  Jonah,  and  where  the  Nahr-El-Danur 
flows  cool  and  deep  from  Mt.  Lebanon.  There  are  many 
silk  flictories  along  the  road  and  thousands  of  acres  of 
the  plains  and  hillsides  are  devoted  to  the  culture  of 
mulberry  trees  for  the  manufacture  of  silk.  We  leave 
to  our  right  the  perishing  home  of  the  eccentric  lady 
Stanhope,  who  died  as  she  had  hved  in  self-imposed 
exile,  "unwept,  unhonored"  and  unloved. 

We  pass  through  a  belt  of  deep  red  sand  for  three  or 
four  miles  between  walls  made  ol  this  sand  when  wet, 
about  four  or  five  feet  high,  through  groves  of  pine  trees, 
owned  by  the  government  and  used  for  telegraph  poles. 
They  are  trimmed  up  and  are  as  thick  as  pines  can 
grow,  even  in  North  Carolina.  We  pass  the  customs 
officers  and  at  4  p.  m.  on  the  twelfth  day  after  leaving 
Jerusalem  ;  stop  at  the  Hotel  del'  Universe,  kept  by  a 
native  Syrian,  and  never  found  a  better,  nor  cheaper 
one  in  all  our  travels. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


BEIRUT. 


Our  first  thought  on  reaching  Beirut  was  one  of  relief 
at  having  terminated  a  journey  perilious  on  account  of 
the  treachery  of  the  people  one  must  associate  with  and 
depend  upon,  and  the  excessive  heat  of  the  climate 
along  the  coast.  We  were  mindful  of  the  good  provid- 
ence of  God  that  had  shielded  us  hourly  through  the 
worst  dangers  we  would  brave.  Grateful  letters  awaited 
us  at  the  post  office,  and  newspapers  from  home.  After 
dinner  our  dragoman,  muleteers  and  donkey  boy  came 
to  my  room  to  bid  me  farewell  and  receive  backsheesh. 
These  fellows  will  appear  to  be  nearly  heartbroken  at 
parting  with  the  traveler,  but  if  disai3pointed  in  the 
quantity  of  backsheesh  expected,  will  go  off  pouting  and 
it  is  said,  sometimes  not  even  say  good-bye  at  all. 

We  had  a  written  contract  to  the  effect  (specified)  that 
all  backsheesh  was  to  be  paid  by  our  cicerone  ;  neverthe- 
less he,  with  all  the  rest,  seemed  to  have  lost  sight  of 
that,  and  wanted  all  possible  perquisites. 

Next  morning  I  went  to  see  Mr.  M.  at  the  Hospital  of 
the  Knights  of  St.  John,  where  he  had  gone  the  day 
previous  to  our  arrival,  and  though  blessed  with  the 
best  medical  attention  to  be  found  anywhere ;  his  conva- 
lescence was  so  slow  as  to  require  him  to  stay  about  two 
weeks.  I  remained  with  him  four  days,  and  bade  him 
adieu  with  a  sad  heart,  for  in  the  seven  weeks  in  which 
we  had   been  constantly  together,   our  attachment  for 


198 

each  other  and  dependence  upon  one  another,  had 
grown  to  be  like  that  of  two  brothers.  Now  our  journey 
lay  apart,  and  both  were  once  more  alone  at  the  farthest 
point  from  home. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  since 
his  return  home  :  "After  you  left  Beirut  I  had  to  remain 
about  ten  days,  for  Dr.  Post  would  not  let  me  go  for  a 
week  after  I  was  up  and  about  the  garden.  Dr.  Post 
told  me  he  and  Dr.  Dight  had  a  consultation  every 
morning  over  my  case,  for  they  did  not  understand  it ; 

concluded  it  was  malaria  in  the  main 

Well,  it  was  a  grand  trip,  was  it  not?  Who  could  picture 
old  Egypt  as  it  is?  Or  ever  get  a  just  view  of  the  Holy 
Land  as  we  saw  it?  Or  imagine  Pompeii  or  Rome?  It 
is  all  like  a  dream,  but  when  I  fix  my  thought  on  any 
one  part  of  it,  it  becomes  all  clear  as  a  picture." 

Beirut  is  a  city  of  over  one  hundred  thousand  inhab- 
itants, most  of  whom  are  Arabs  and  Turks,  but  there 
are  many  French,  Germans,  Greeks  and  Italians  also, 
and  some  English.  The  Enghsh,  French  and  Austrians 
each  have  a  post  office,  as  well  as  the  Turks,  and  I  be- 
lieve the  Italians  as  well.  It  is  the  principal  seaport  of 
Syria,  ant  carries  on  a  large  wholesale  trade  with  Da- 
mascus and  the  inland  towns  farther  in  the  interior. 
There  are  several  factories  here  making  silk  g  jods,  soap, 
nargilehs,  glass  goods,  shoes,  sandals,  copper-ware  and 
hard-ware  generally.  The  city  is  taking  on  an  Euro- 
pean air  to  a  considerable  extent. 

I  went  one  day  to  Nahr-El-Kelb,  (Dog  River)  which 
is  a  sight  well  worth  the  time  and  trouble  to  see.  It 
flows  from  the  Lebanon  mountains  and  is  cold.  From 
this  stream  Beirut  is  supplied  with  drinking  water, 
driven  about  six  or   seven    miles  through  pipes,  by  a 


199 

steam  engine.  The  Nahr-El-Kelb  flows  through  a  canon 
whose  sides  are  nearly  perpendicular  and  about  five  or 
six  hundred  feet  high.  The  rock  forming  the  sides  of 
this  canon  is  limestone,  and  several  places  have  been  cut 
smooth  for  receiving  inscriptions  and  reliefs.  One  of 
these,  life  size,  represents  Salmanezer,  another  Rameses 
the  Great,  cut  in  relief  There  are  also  inscriptions  in 
relief  to  Marcus  Aurelius  and  Napoleon  III.  A  stone 
bridge,  centuries  old,  spans  the  stream  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  beach ;  over  this  bridge  mules  were 
carrying  sugar  cane  on  their  backs,  and  I  judged  there 
w^as  a  sugar  factory  near  by  from  the  vast  amounts  haul- 
ed. Two  large  bundles  weighing  three  or  four  hundred 
pounds  are  balanced  on  the  mules'  backs  and  the}"  go 
without  a  driver  to  the  proper  destination. 

The  highway  is  a  continuation  of  the  old  Roman  road 
to  Antioch,  and  is  in  good  condition,  being  macadam- 
ized ;  it  passes  through  mulberry  groves  all  the  way 
around  the  sandy  beach  of  St.  George's  bay. 

This  entire  population  is  Christian,  even  for  many 
miles  in  the  interior.  And  so  bigoted  are  th^}^  that 
they  will  not  only  not  hear  any  other  sect,  but  will  not 
allow  others  to  plant  a  school  or  church  among  them  ; 
they  are  Catholics  chiefly ;  some,  however,  belong  to  the 
Greek  church.  They  are  as  violent  as  the  Latins  in 
their  hostility  to  Protestanism.  Dr.  Jessup  had  in  hand 
the  case  of  a  missionary  at  Sidon  who  had  been  arrested 
on  the  charge  of  murder ;  everything  was  being  done 
by  the  Catholics  that  could  be  to  secure  his  execution. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  contribute  to  a  fund  being  raised 
to  secure  his  release.  The  wounds  our  Lord  has  received 
in  the  house  of  his  friends  have  checked  the  onward 
march  of  his  kingdom  more  than  all  the  infidelity,  ra- 


200 

tionalism,  agnosticism,  and  all  other  forms  of  skepticism 
together. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  visit  the  various  institutions 
doing  work  directly  for  Christ  in  Beirut,  and  I  copy 
from  statictics  and  statements  placed  in  my  hands  by 
our  Missionaries  a  concise  history  and  outline  of  their 
labors. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by 
myself  to  the  Raleigh  Christian  Advocate,  from 
Beirut : 

"I  thought  I  w^ould  write  you  about  the  wonderful 
work  of  missions  here  in  Beirut,  but  I  have  found  to 
my  hand  a  summary,  by  the  dauntless  Dr.  Strong,  to 
the  correctness  of  which  I  wish  to  bear  testimony.  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  their  college  for  young  men, 
and  through  the  courtesy  of  the  President,  Dr.  Bliss, 
of  acquainting  myself  somewhat  with  their  equipments 
and  methods.  It  is  nearly,  if  I  may  not  say,  quite  an 
ideal  college.  They  have  about  two  hundred  pupils, 
w^ho  show  real  culture  in  manner  and  conversation. 
The  College  is  well  equipped,  located  and  managed.  I 
may  say  the  same  of  Miss  Thompson's  school,  except  as 
to  numbers  ;  she  has  only  50  or  60  I  think.  Their  hos- 
pital is  all  one  could  desire.  They  have  a  large  printing 
establishment,  through  which  I  looked,  and  it  keeps 
many  hands  busy.  I  called  on  Dr.  Van  Dyck,  who  re- 
marked in  answer  to  my  interrogations  regarding  the 
history,  present  status  and  outlook  of  missionary  labors 
in  Syria  and  among  the  Mohammedans,  that  already 
there  was  crystallizing  energy  sufficient  to  cast  a  system 
or  polity  for  local  church  government.  This  fact  fur- 
nishes very  practical  evidence  in  support  of  the  claims 
of  Christian  Missions." 


201 

Dr.  Strong  says  :  "Beirut,  in  Syria,  is  called  the  'crown-jewel 
of  modern  missions.'  It  was  taken  from  the  bed  of  Moslem 
degradation,  cut  and  set  by  the  deliberate  planning  of  a  hand- 
ful of  American  Christians.  As  late  as  1826  Beirut  was  a  strag- 
gling, decaying  Mohammedan  town,  without  so  much  as  a  car- 
riage-way through  it,  a  wheeled  vehicle,  or  a  pane  of  window 
glass  in  it.  The  missionaries  who  came  to  it  were  persecuted 
by  the  authorities  and  mobbed  by  the  populace.  Some  were 
driven  to  the  Lebanons  ;  others  fled  to  Malta.  There  they 
matured  their  plans,  chimerical  to  all  but  the  eye  of  faith. 
They  projected  Christian  empire  for  Svria,  not  the  gathering  of 
a  few  converts.  Schools,  colleges,  printing-houses.  Western 
culture  in  science,  art  and  religion,  were  all  included  in  their 
plan.  They  returned  to  Beirut  bringing  a  hand-press  and  a  font 
of  Arabic  type. 

Night  after  night  a  light  gleamed  from  a  little  tower  above 
the  mission  building— a  prophetic  light  seen  out  on  the  Medi- 
terranean-where  Eli  Smith,  and,  after  he  was  gone,  the  still 
living  Dr.  Van  Dyck  labored  in  translating  the  Bible  into  Arabic. 
When,  in  1865,  Dr.  Van  Dyck  flung  down  the  stairway  the  last 
sheet  of  'copy'  to  the  compositor,  it  marked  an  era  of  import- 
ance to  Syria  and  Asia  Minor,  to  Egypt  and  Turkey,  and  all  the 
scattered  Arabic-speaking  peoples,  greater  than  any  accession  or 
deposition  of  Sultans  or  Khedives.  There  is  nothing  more 
eloquent  than  the  face  of  the  venerable  translator,  in  which  can 
be  read  the  making  of  the  grandest  history  of  the  Orient.  The 
dream  of  the  exiles  has  been  accomplished.  Beirut  is  to-day  a 
Christian  city,  with  more  influence  upon  the  adjacent  lands  than 
had  the  Berytus  of  old,  on  whose  ruins  it  has  risen.  Stately 
churches,  hospitals,  a  female  seminary,  a  college,  whose  gradu- 
ates are  scattered  over  Syria,  Egypt  and  wherever  the  Arab 
roams ;  a  theological  seminary,  a  common-school  system,  and 
three  steam  presses,  throwing  ofi"  nearly  half  a  million  pages  of 
reading  matter  a  day  ;  a  Bible-house,  whose  products  are  found 
m  India,  China,  Ethiopia,  and  at  the  sources  of  the  Nile ;  these 
are  the  facets  of  that  'crown  jewel'  which  the  missionaries  have 
cut  with  their  sanctified  enterprise." 

The  following  condensed  report  explains  itself: 


13 


202 


PLACES    OF   EVANGELICAL   WORSHIP   IN   BEIRUT, 

Together  with  brief  statistics  of  Evangelical  Work  in  the  city,  and  of 
the  American  Mission  in  Syria. 

I. 

WORSHIP    AND    PREACHING    IN   THE   ENGLISH    LANGUAGE. 

1.  American  Mission  Church. 

2.  Church  of  England  Service. 

3.  Chapel  of  Syrian  Protestant  Church. 

4.  British  Syrian  Schools. 

II. 

WORSHIP    AND    PREACHING    IN   THE   GERMAN    AND    FRENCH. 

1.     Chapel  of  Prussian  Deaconesses. 

WORSHIP   AND    PREACHING    IN    ARABIC. 

1.  American  Mission  Church. 

2.  Syrian  Protestant  College. 

3.  Eastern  Chapel. 

4.  Musaitebeh  Chapel. 

5.  Orphan  House  of  the  Prussian  Deaconesses. 

6.  Hospital  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John. 

7.  Moslem  School  of  Miss  Taylor. 

8.  Six  Arabic  Sunday  Schools. 

9.  Six  Classes  during  the  week  for  Bible  Instruction  to  Women. 

IV. 

EVANGELICAL   CHRISTIAN    WORK    AND    EDUCATIONAL    INSTITUTIONS. 

1.  American  Presbyterian  Mission,  American  Bible  Society. 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  London  Religious  Tract 
Society. 

2.  Theological  Seminary  of  the  American  Mission. 

3.  Syrian  Protestant  College. 

4.  American  Female  Seminary. 

5.  British   Syrian  Schools— One  Boarding  School  and  seven 

Day  Schools. 

6.  Church  of  Scotland  Mission  to  the  Jews. 

7.  Prussian  Deaconesses  Orphan  House  and  Boarding  School 
for  Girls. 

8.  Miss  Taylor's  St.  George's  Moslem  School  for  Girls. 

9.  German  Boys'  School. 


203 

10.  Day  School  of  Syrian  Protestants,  and  three  other  day 
Schools. 

11.  Blind  Schools  for  Men  and  Women. 

V. 

THE    PRESS. 

Rev.  Samuel  Jessup,  Manager. 

Mr.  W.  R.  Glockler,  Supt. 

The  Arabic  Press  of  the  American  Mission  printed  in  1885: 

Total  pages 27,981,600 

Of  which  Scriptures 17,378,600 

Vols,  of  Scriptures  distributed  during  1885 23,576 

Total  No.  of  distinct  books  on  the  Press  Catalogue....  368 

Total  pages  printed  from  the  first 311,742,044 

VI. 

STATIONS   OF   THE    AMERICAN    PRESBYTERIAN    MISSION    IN    SYRIA. 

1.  Beirut.— Rev.  C.  V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  M.D.,  D.D.;  Rev.  AV.  W. 
Eddy,  D.D.;  Rev.  H.  H.  Jessup,  D.D.;  Rev.  J.  S.  Dennis,  D. 
D.;  Rev.  S.  Jessup,  and  their  wives.  Miss  E.  D.  Everett, 
Miss  E.  A.  Thomson,  Miss  A.  S.  Barber,  of  the  Female 
Seminary. 

Theological  Seminary. — Instruction  given  by  members  of  Bei- 
rut Station. 

Syrian  Protestant  College. — Rev.  D.  Bliss,  D.D.,  President;  Rev. 
J.  Wortabet,  M.D.;  Rev.  G.  E.  Post,  M.A.,  M.D.;  Rev.  Har- 
vey Porter,  B.A.;  Thos.  M.  Kay,  M.D.;  Charles  F.  Dight,  M. 
D.;  John  C.  Fisher,  M.A.,  M.D.;  Samuel  P.  Glover,  M.D.; 
Robert  H.  West,  M.A.;  Frank  E.  Hoskins,  B.A.;  Louis  F. 
Giroux,  B.A.;  Mr.  Yuhanna  Dakhil,  Sheikh  Khalil  Ul- 
Yazigil,  Frank  S.  Woodruff,  B.A.;  Robert  H.  Beattie,  B.A.; 
Henry  M.  Hulbert,  M.A.;  Yusuf  Aftimus,  B.A.;  Daud  Sa- 
lim,  B.A.;  Mr.  Francis  Riclia. 

Medical  Students 31 

Collegiate  Department 61 

Preparatory  Department 75 

Total 167 

Total  Pupils  in  American  Mission  Schools  in  Syria 5,665 

Of  whom  Girls 3,736 

Total  Number  Members  in  Svrian  Native  Churches 1,301 

Sabbath  School  SoJiolars " 3,804 

Contributions  of  Native  Churches $6,451 


204 


2.  Abeih  and  Suk  el  Ghurb.— Rev.  Wm.  Bird  and  wife;  Miss 
Emily  Bird;  Rev.  T.  S.  Pond  and  wife. 

3.  Sidon.— Rev.  W.  K.  Eddy  and  wife;  Rev.  Geo.i  A.  Ford. 
Female  Seminary.— Miss  H.  M.  Eddy,  Miss  R.  Brown,  Miss 
C.  Brown. 

4.  Tripoli.— Rev.  0.  J.  Hardin  and  wife;  Rev.  F.  W.  March  and 

wife;  Ira  Harris,  M.D.,  and  wife.    Female  Seminary.— Miss 
H.  La  Grange,  Miss  M.  C.  Holmes. 

5.  Zahleh.— Rev.  G.  F.  Dale,  Jr.;  Rev.  W.  M.  Greenlee,  and 
their  wives. 

6.  Total  American  Missionaries,  Men 14  \     qo 

Women 24/     "^^ 

Native  Pastors 3^ 

Total  Native  Syrian  Preachers 35  V   189 

Teachers  and  others 151  j 

VII. 
ST.  John's  hospital  for  1888. 

Indoor  patients 491 

Patients  treated  in  Polyclinique 8,390 

Total  days  of  treatment 11,953 


SEA    OF    GALILEE. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


THE  LAND,  THE  PEOPLE,  THE  MAN. 


When  we  consider  the  geographical  position  of  Pales- 
tine, the^topography,  climate,  and  vegetable  productions 
of  the  country,  and  the  peculiar  history  and  character- 
istics of  the  Hebrew  people,  we  see  a  remarkable  fitness 
in  the  land  and  the  peojDle  to  entitle  them  to  that  choice 
made  by  God  in  using  them  to  carry  out  his  purpose 
concerning  the  race  of  mankind  in  their  development. 
Geikie  says  the  land  is  peculiarly  ad  ipted  to  qualify  its 
inhabitants  to  write  a  book  for  all  men,  on  account  of 
the  cosmopolitan  character  of  its  vegetable  grow^th. 
"The  teachings  and  illustrations  of  our  Lord  would  have 
been  out  of  place  in  any  other  country  except  this. 
They  could  not  have  been  uttered  anywhere  else.''' — Thompson. 

But  what  is  still  more  significant  is  the  character  of 
the  Israelites.  The  call  of  Abraham  from  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees  has  no  counterpart  in  the  history  of  any  other 
family.  The  announcements  made  to  him,  from  time  to 
time,  were  new,  mysterious,  wonderful,  and  as  far  remov- 
ed from  him  in  their  ultimate  designs  as  the  steamer  that 
carries  the  international  mails  is  from  the  secrets  that 
slumber  in  its  mammoth  hold. 

Palestine  has  been  on  the  highway  of  the  nations  from 
time  immemorial.  Asia  Minor,  Assyria,  Persia,  and  all 
the  north  and  east  passed  that  way  to  Egypt,  Abyssinia, 
Ethiopia  and  all  places  in  Africa  and  vice  versa,  whether 


206 

their  mission  was  one  of  hostility,  of  commerce,  of  in- 
vestigation or  emigration ;  thus  making  it  one  of  the 
strategic  points  most  valuabe  in  impinging  against  the 
citizenship  of  the  world.  The  characteristics  of  Abra- 
ham and  his  posterity  were  such  as  God  would  teach  to 
other  peoples. 

1.  In  the  first  'place,  Abraham  had  faith  in  God.  He 
believed  God  meant  well  towards  man ;  that  all  he  did 
was  for  man's  good ;  that  he  had  a  great  concern  for 
man.  He  believed  this  with  such  an  intensity  that  he 
was  ready  to  co-operate  with  God  in  any  plan,  to  under- 
take any  task  imposed  upon  him  by  God,  so  that  he 
obtained  the  honorable  titles  "Friend  of  God,"  "Father 
of  the  Faithful." 

This  same  peculiarity  is  exhibited  in  his  children, 
Isaac,  Jacob,  Joseph,  and  others  whose  names  are  re- 
corded in  Hebrews  xi. 

2.  Domestic  ajfection  is  peculiar  to  the  Hebrews. 
While  God  has  given  parental  love  to  the  lower  animals 
even,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  fallen  human  nature 
descends  below  the  brute  world  in  many  respects ;  and 
the  nations  of  the  east  show  an  aversion  to  their  chil- 
dren, especially  female  children,  that  is  not  paralleled 
among  the  lower  animals,  so  far  as  I  know.  At  this 
time  there  are  places  where  a  little  money  would  pur- 
chase a  car  load  of  children  from  their  parents,  and 
many  female  babes  are  strangled  at  birth.  But  the 
Israelites  loved  their  children.  Witness  Jacob  when  he 
thought  Joseph  torn  by  wild  beasts,  and  when  Benja- 
min was  required  ere  they  could  obtain  more  bread. 
"All  these  things  are  against  me  ;''  ^^aid  he,  "you  will 
bring  down  my  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave,"  or 
Joseph    when  he    saw  Benjamin— Gen.   45 — or   David 


207 

weeping  over  a  would-be  parricide  until  his  heart  seem- 
ed broken.* 

Take  the  following  from  the  Nashville  Advocate^  of 
February  14,  1891. 

"We  can  still  learn  salutary  lessons  of  the  Jewish  people  a& 
well  as  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  Filial  respect  is  one  of  the 
most  important  elements  in  character,  of  which  these  times  is 
sadly  deficient.  It  still  lives  in  that  ancient  people.  A  corres- 
pondent of  the  New  York  World  draws  this  delightful  picture 
of  filial  reverence  : 

"  'There  is  nothing  in  the  world  of  pleasure  and  recreation  to 
compare  with  the  beautiful  devotion  that  is  paid  the  old  He- 
brew people  by  their  children  and  grandchildren  at  the  various 
summer  resorts.  A  rude  remark  is  never  made  in  their  hearing^ 
nor  a  disrespectful  word  uttered  to  aged  mother  or  father.  The 
gentle  yielding  of  easy  chairs,  the  oftering  of  choice  things  to 
eat  and  drink,  the  last  consideration  of  self  where  there  is  a 
drive  or  sail  for  a  limited  number,  and  the  graceful  anticipation 
of  creature  comforts,  are  attributes  of  the  children  to  which  the 
filial  respect  of  the  youthful  Christian  is  not  approachable.* 
A  lesson  much  needed  among  Christians." 

3.     They  were  a  very  sentimental  people,  and  carried 

their  sentiment  into  their  religion.     Other  nations  built 

temples  in  honor  of  their  gods  and  sacrificed  in  them, 

and  feared  and  revered  their  divinities,  but  nowhere  is  it 

said  they  loved  them.     Their  worship  was  of  the  head — 

it  never  reached  their  hearts.     Hebrews  had  conceptions 

of  a  being  with  sentiment.     Jacob  wrestled  and  agonized 

in  prayer  until  he  prevailed.     The   Psalmist  said,    "my 

heart  and  my  flesh  crieth  out  for  the  living  God."    And 

their  sentimental  nature  is  seen  to-day  by  the  way  they 

repair  weekly  to  the  outside  of  the  Sanctuary  wall,  and 

weep  as  near  the  site  of  their  once  glorious  temple  as 

possible,  and  the  further  fact  that  every  Jew  buried  in  a 

*  Every  one  loves  his  children,  hut  the  Hebrews  love  them  more  tenderly 
than  other  people.— Ebers,  Uarda. 


208 

foreign  land  wishes  the  "holy  sand,"  or  some  of  Pales- 
tine's soil  sprinkled  upon  his  grave,  and  the  Talmud 
says  they  think  that  in  some  mysterious  manner  the 
pious  dead  will  make  their  way  under  ground  to  Mt. 
Olivet,  just  above  Jehoshaphat  and  appear  on  that 
ground  at  the  resurrection. 

4.  The  Jew  was  conservative.  This  fitted  him  for  re- 
ceiving the  sacred  oracles,  the  written  and  oral  law.  No 
"better  evidence  need  be  adduced  than  the  facts  that  they 
have  kept  the  Pentateuch  intact,  or  not  materially  al- 
tered through  the  greatest  imaginable  vicissitudes,  the 
rising  and  falling  of  empires,  the  birth  and  death  of 
many  nations,  the  extremes  of  climate,  exaltation 
persecution  such  as  no  other  people  has  known ;  all  have 
been  too  weak  to  more  than  barely  modify  the  habits  of 
this  people.  The  Samaritans,  of  Jewish  origin  partly, 
(about  one  hundred  and  fifty  remain  at  Sychar,) 
still  retain  a  Pentateuch  manuscript  said  to  be  twenty- 
six  hundred  years  old,  and  it  is  about  the  same  as  ours, 
and  they  still  worship  in  the  mountain  of  Gerizim,  as 
the  woman  of  Sychar  said  to  Jesus,  and  as  they  were 
directed  by  Moses — Exodus  12. 

5.  Once  more,  the  Hebrew  was  aggressive,  or  rather 
liad  the  faculty  of  impressing  his  faith  upon  other  peo- 
ple, as  Joseph  in  Egypt,  whom  we  cannot  think  of 
having  a  higher  office  at  first  than  that  of  a  donkey-boy, 
ivho  nevertheless  made  such  progress  as  to  stand  beside 
Pharaoh,  all  the  time  taking  care  of  his  religion,  and 
saying  that  it  w^as  in  consequence  of  his  God  that  he 
•did  well.  He  preached  God  the  good  to  the  King,  and 
with  success,  for  he  obtained  favor  for  his  (alien)  people 
until  another  Pharaoh  was  on  the  throne  who  "knew 
not  Joseph." 


209 

Daniel,  a  captive  lad,  did  the  same,  became  prime 
minister  to  four  or  five  of  the  world's  greatest  monarch s, 
and  made  Nebuchadnezzar  say  there  is  no  God  but  Dan- 
iel's God.  "Now  I,  Nebuchadnezzar,  praise  and  extol 
and  honor  the  King  of  heaven,  all  whose  works  are 
truth,  and  His  ways  judgment ;  and  those  that  walk  in 
pride  He  is  able  to  abase." 

Likewise  did  Esther  and  Mordecai  and  Ezra  and  Ne- 
hemiah. 

Endowed  thus,  with  powers  and  peculiarities  on  which 
to  base  individual  and  national  prosperity  and  develop- 
ment, (the  home  is  the  bulwark  of  civilization  and  stable 
government,  but  the  home  is  built  on  Domestic  affec- 
tion,) God  put  this  nation  in  contact  with  the  people  of 
the  earth  at  opportune  times  and  in  wise  ways,  making 
such  occasions  reciprocally  serviceable,  mutually  eleva- 
ting, developing  and  diffusing  light  and  knowledge  until 
other  nations,  besides,  might  be  put  in  charge  of  the 
mission  which  only  one  at  first  could  undertake.* 

We  owe  the  Jew  a  debt.  We  obtained  from  him  what 
is  best  in  us,  at  least  the  fertilizing  of  the  germs  of  it  ; 
if  not  the  nature,  a  knowledge  of  the  first  principles. 
We  believe  for  his  excellence  he  was  chosen.  His  ex- 
cellent qualities  were  made  prominent  by  the  favor  of 
God,  and  his  testimony  is  not  nearly  at  an  end.  Let 
him  be  kindly  considei  ed,  for  it  is  as  George  Eliot  has 
said,  "The  well-being  of  Israel  is  the  well-being  of  the 
church." 

Traveling   the   length   and   breadth   of  this  land,    if 

there   has   been   any  change  whatever  in  my  religious 

views  it  has  been  to  intensify  my  faith  in  the  inspiration 

of  Scripture  and  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.     When 

we  consider  the  narrow  limits  of  Palestine,  the  arduous 

*For  I  know  him,  that  he  will  command  his  children  and  his  household 
after  him. 


210 

toil  necessary  to  production,  and  no  resources  whatf^ver 
besides  those  of  agriculture  and  the  feeding  of  flocks ; 
and  when  we  consider  that  the  Canaanites  and  other 
tribes  filled  the  country  and  occupied  cities  with  high 
walls,  and  that  a  nation  which  had  for  centuries  been  in 
bondage,  and  showed  its  capacity  and  disposition  for 
war  in  the  conduct  of  ten  of  the  tw^elve  spies  sent  to  in- 
vestigate, and  the  conduct  of  the  camp  on  hearing  their 
report :  "And  they  brought  up  an  evil  rej^ort  of  the  land 
which  they  had  searched  unto  the  children  of  Israel, 
saying,  The  land  through  which  we  have  goi.e  to  search 
jt,  is  a  land  that  eateth  up  the  inhabitants  thereof;  and 
all  the  people  that  we  saw  in  it  are  men  of  a  great  sta- 
ture. And  there  we  saw  the  giants,  the  sons  of  Anak, 
which  come  of  the  giants ;  and  we  were  in  our  own  sight 
as  grasshoppers,  and  so  we  were  in  their  sight.  And  all 
the  congregation  lifted  up  their  voice  and  cried;  and  the 
people  wept  that  night.  And  all  the  children  of  Israel 
murmured  against  Moses  and  against  Aaron  :  and  the 
whole  congregation  said  unto  them,  Would  God  that  we 
had  died  in  the  land  of  Egypt!  or  would  God  we  had 
died  in  this  wilderness  !  And  wherefore  hath  the  Lord 
brought  us  unto  this  land,  to  fall  by  the  sword,  that  our 
wives  and  our  children  should  be  a  prey  ?  were  it  not 
better  for  us  to  return  into  Egypt?  And  they  said  one  to 
another.  Let  us  make  a  captain,  and  let  us  return  into 
Egypt." — Num.  13:  32 — 14:  4,  when  we  consider,  too, 
little  time  was  occupied  in  taking  enough  land  for  their 
use  and  cities  enough  for  their  comfortable  dwelling;  and 
when  we  read  the  law  guaranteeing  peace  and  prosper- 
ity, and  the  conditions  forfeiting  the  divine  favor  in 
Deut.  28,  etc.,  and  study  the  history  of  the  Jews,  we  see 
a  proof  of  the  divine  hand  through  all. 


211 

When  we  consider,  again,  these  narrow  limits,  and 
contrast  the  products  of  this  shepherd  people  in  the 
world  of  thought  and  morals,  with  those  ot  surrounding 
nations,  the  conclusion  is  they  were  under  the  divine 
guidance.  There  are  the  Ganges,  the  Euphrates  and  the 
Nile  flowing  through  lands  of  incalcuhdDle  wealth. 
There  are  Greece,  Rome,  and  all  the  rest.  From  them 
arose  Ninevah,  Babylon,  Thebes,  Cheops,  the  Acropolis, 
Parthenon  and  Colosseum.  They  have  given  us  war- 
riors, statesmen,  historians,  poets,  painters,  sculptors  and 
architects,  showing  that  there  was  not  an  indigenous 
genius  here,  for  many  other  lands  have  equalled  this  in 
ordinary  and  extraordinary  talent.  But  this  little  sec- 
tion has  done  more  than  ony  other  one,  or  all  others,  for 
it  alone  inherited  ability  to  give  to  man  an  ultimate 
ethical  code ;  and  if  we  judge  by  the  standard  given  by 
its  supreme  law  giver  :  That  the  servant  of  all  is  greatest 
of  all,  then  is  it  entitled  to  the  fir&t  place. 

The  Philosophers  have  all  had  a  sameness  about  their 
sayings,  but  the  heroes  of  Scripture  had  uncommon  and 
unique  experiences  and  gave  utterance  to  equally  uncom- 
mon thoughts.  Abraham,  Job,  Moses,  David,  Elijah  and 
Daniel  were  not  as  the  other  great  men  of  the  earth.  They 
were  in  many  respects  similar  to  one  another ;  but  unlike 
the  heroes  of  poetry,  history  and  biography  of  other  lands. 

Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  stand  out  alone  before  the 
world  as  moral  pioneers,  marking  a  highway  of  faith 
and  obedience,  not  yet  improved  upon,  and  in  studying 
these  men  we  must  do  so  remembering  that  they  were 
without  the  written  word  and  examples  since  recorded. 
"These  all  died  in  the  faith,  not  having  received  the 
promises,  but  having  seen  them  afar  off,  and  were  per- 
suaded of  them,  and  embraced  them." 


212 

But  once  more ;  when  we  remember  that  this  people, 
with  such  noble  sires,  proved  unworthy  sons,  lost  their 
liberty  and  became  subject  to  pagan  masters,  from  one 
of  the  meanest  of  their  towns,  of  the  poorest  parents, 
gave  to  the  world  a  man  of  pure  lips,  of  pure  habits,  of 
great  knowledge  ard  wisdom,  yet  having  never  learned, 
totally  unselfish  amidst  the  most  selfish,  possessed  of  mi- 
raculous power,  fearless  amidst  hosts  of  enemies,  defiant 
•of  accumulated  ecclesiastical  and  traditional  energy  and 
prestige,  of  wealth,  or  other  forces,  arresting  in  their 
progress  storms,  devils  and  diseases,  going  about  doing 
good  gratuitously  amid  the  most  mercenary,  and  choos- 
ing the  most  ignoble  men  to  take  up  and  carry  forward 
his  work  where  he  left  it  off,  until  it  should  fill  the 
earth ;  who  put  greater  premium  on  suffering  as  a  means 
to  secure  adherents  than  on  temporal  gratifications  ;  in 
fact,  a  man  doing  all  things  in  a  manner  different  from 
all  other  men,  against  all  men's  natural  propensities,  yet 
making  them  say  "he  hath  done  all  things  well ;"  when 
we  study  his  life  in  his  land,  his  time  and  his  people, 
when  we  consider  how  unfavorable  his  antecedents,  and 
his  environments  from  every  human  standpoint,  and  the 
sublimity,  purity,  simplicity  and  universal  sweep  of  his 
teachings,  and  that  his  biographer  said  "the  common  (!) 
people  heard  him  gladly,"  and  who  himself  said  for 
eternal  record,  "If  a  man  compel  thee  to  go  a  mile  with 
him,  go  with  him  two,"  and  "if  he  sue  thee  at  the  law 
and  take  away  thy  cloak,  let  him  have  thy  coat  also" — a 
man  who,  without  reading  history,  political  or  moral 
science,  yet  announced  instinctively  the  foundation  prin- 
ciples on  which  alone  pure  and  substantial  civil  and 
social  institutions  can  permanently  be  based;  whose 
foundations  need  not  to  be  widened  nor  narrowed,  and 


213 

"other  foundation  can  no  man  lay:"  "Heaven  and  earth 
shall  pass  away,  but  my  word  shall  not  pass  away;" 
when  we  consider  all  these  things  and  stand  before  this 
cosmopolitan  character  speaking  to  every  nation  and 
every  man,  whose  words  need  no  altering  forever,  but 
only  to  be  obeyed,  we  bow  down  before  him  and  say  with 
Nicodemus,  "Thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God,"  and 
with  the  centurion,  "surely  this  man  was  the  son  of 
God,"  and  with  Peter,  who  knew  him  best  of  all,  "Thou 
art  the  Christ  of  God." 

Two  years  after  writing  the  above  "The  Land  and  the- 
Book"  fell  into  my  hands.  As  it  so  forcibly  and  fully 
speaks  on  this  subject  I  copy  what  forty  years  of 
sojourn  amongst  that  people  enabled  the  learned  author 
to  testify  with  accuracy.     He  says : 

"Jesus  grew  up  from  his  youth  to  manhood  amongst  a  people 
intensely  mercenary.  This  vice  corrupted  and  debased  every 
relation  of  life.  We  can  fill  up  the  outlines  of  his  picture  from 
the  every-day  life  and  manners  of  the  people  about  us.  Every 
body  trades,  speculates,  cheats.  The  shepherd  boy  on  the 
mountains  talks  about  piastres  from  morning  to  night ;  so  does 
the  muleteer  on  the  road,  the  farmer  in  the  field,  the  artisan  in 
his  shop,  the  merchant  in  his  magazine,  the  pasha  in  his  palace, 
the  Kady  in  the  hall  of  judgment,  the  mullah  in  the  mosque, 
the  monk,  the  priest,  the  bishop — money,  money,  money !  the 
desire  of  every  heart,  the  theme  of  every  discourse,  the  end  of 
every  aim.  Everything  too,  is  bought  and  sold.  Each  prayer 
has  its  price,  every  sin  a  tariff.  Nothing  for  nothing,  but  every 
thing  for  money.  Now  our  Lord  was  an  Oriental,  and  grew  up 
among  just  such  a  people  ;  but  who  can  or  dare  say  there  is  the 
faintest  shadow  of  this  mercenary  spirit  in  his  character?  With 
uncontrolled  power  to  possess  all,  he  owned  nothing.  He  had 
no  place  to  be  born  in  but  another  man's  stable,  no  closet  to 
pray  in  but  the  wilderness,  no  place  to  die  but  on  the  cross  of 
an  enemy,  and  no  grave  but  one  lent  by  a  friend.  At  his  death 
he  had  absolutely  nothing  to  bequeath  to  his  mother.  He  was 
as  free  from  the  mercenary  spirit  as  though  he  belonged  to  a 


214 

world  where  the  very  idea  of  property  was  unknown.  And 
this  total  abstinence  from  all  ownership  was  not  of  necessity, 
but  of  choice  ;  and  I  say  there  is  nothing  like  it,  nothing  that 
approaches  it  in  the  histor}'  of  universal  man.  It  stands  out 
perfectly  and  divinely  original. 

"Jesus  was  the  founder  of  a  new  religion.  Milton  makes  the 
Devil  say  to  Jesus:  'If  at  great  things  thou  would'st  arrive,  get 
riches  first ;  get  wealth,  and  treasure  heap.'  And  this  tempta- 
tion no  man  under  such  circumstances  ever  did  or  could  resist. 
But  Christ  from  the  first  took  his  position  above  the  human 
race,  and  to  the  end  retained  it  without  an  efibrt.  He  divorces 
his  Gospel  from  any  alloy  of  earth.  Money,  property,  and  all 
they  represent  and  control,  have  nothing  to  do  with  member- 
ship in  his  society,  with  citizenship  in  his  Kingdom.  Not  only 
is  the  idea  not  human,  it  is  every  whit  contrary  to  what  is  hu- 
man. He  could  not  have  borrowed  it,  for  he  was  surrounded 
by  those  who  were  not  able  to  comprehend  the  idea — no,  not 
even  the  apostles,  until  after  the  day  of  Pentecost.  As  to  the 
multitude,  they  sought  Jesus,  not  because  they  saw  the  miracles 
and  were  convinced,  but  because  they  ate  and  were  filled.  And 
so  it  always  has  been  and  is  now  in  this  same  country.     .     .     . 

He  kneio  that  the  multitude  followed  him  for  the 

loaves  and  fishes ;  that  they  sought  to  make  him  King  that 
they  might  revel  in  ease,  luxury  and  power  ;  that  the^'^  crowded 
around  him  to  be  healed  as  people  do  now  around  our  physi- 
cians ;  that  one  called  him  master  to  obtain  a  decision  in  his 
favor  against  his  brother  in  regard  to  the  estate,  as  many  join 
the  missionaries  the  better  to  press  their  claims  in  court.  .  . 
.  .  .  According  to  the  parable,  some  will  even  claim  admit- 
tance into  heaven  because  they  had  eaten  and  drank  in  his 
presence,  and  still  more  absurd,  because  he  had  taught  in  their 
streets.  Xow,  however  ridiculous  such  pretensions  may  appear 
to  men  in  the  AVestern  World,  I  have  had  applications  for 
money  in  this  country,  urged  earnestly,  and  even  angrily,  for  • 
precisely  the  same  reasons.  Our  Lord  founded  the  parable, 
even  to  its  external  drapery  and  costume,  not  on  fancy,  but  on  un- 
•exaggerated  fact." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


AMONG  THE  GRECIAN  ISLES. 


"Where  burning  Sappho  loved  and  sung — 
"Where  Venus  rose  and  Phoebus  sprung," 
We  sailed,  the  Grecian  Isles  among. 

From  Beirut  we  embarked  on  the  Vesta,  of  the  Aus- 
trian Lloyd  Line.  On  account  of  cargo,  we  were  delayed 
thirty  hours,  and  it  is  dark  ere  the  rattle  of  loading- 
machinery  ceases  and  the  thud  of  the  propeller  begins. 
All  night  we  go  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  miles  over  a 
rough  sea  ere  we  reach  Cyprus,  our  first  landing  place. 
As  we  stay  here  four  hours,  there  is  an  opportunity  and 
a  proposition  to  go  ashore.  We  are  half  a  mile  from 
Larnika,  the  principal  town  of  the  island,  and  land  in 
small  row  boats.  Cyprus  derives  its  name  from  Kiipros, 
a  plant  that  grows  here  and  makes  a  reddish  and  yel- 
lowish dye,  with  which  the  women  throughout  the  East 
color  their  nails.  Once  the  island  was  covered  with 
forests,  but  these  have  all  disappeared.  Once  large  cop- 
per mines  were  worked,  and  from  Homer  to  Alexander 
and  later,  they  excelled  in  the  manufacture  of  brazen 
armor.  It  is  said  the  metal  copper  derives  its  name  from 
Aes  Citprium — euphonized  or  anglicized  into  co23per. 

The  King  of  Larnika,  called  Chittim  in  the  Scrip- 
tures— presented  Alexander  the  Great  with  a  sword,  so 
we  are  told  by  the  historians.  Cyprus  produces  wheat, 
barley,  cotton,  silk,  madder,  oil,  wine,  caroobs  (the  husks 


216 

of  the  prodigal  son)  and  salt.  But  locusts  are  said  to 
eat  up  and  destroy  nearly  half  the  products  of  the  far- 
mer commonly. 

General  di  Cesnola,  who  was  consul  here  for  several 
years,  made  very  important  discoveries  at  many  of  the 
ancient  city  sites,  all  of  which  are  fully  detailed  in  his 
book.  We  saw  one  place  which  he  had  honey-combed, 
finding  only  an  ancient  cistern  containing  a  few  relics  of 
a  remote  age. 

About  the  only  thing  worth  visiting  at  Larnika  is  the 
Church  of  St.  Lazarus,  (Greek.)  You  are  shown  the 
spot  where  he  died,  after  coming  from  Palestine,  and 
where  he  is  buried  (?).  There  is  a  painting  of  him  in 
the  church,  also  of  his  resurrection,  in  which  a  bystand- 
er is  holding  his  nose  to  shut  out  the  scent  of  the  corpse. 
Our  young  readers  of  Mythology  will  remember  that  it 
was  here  the  goddess  Venus  rose  from  the  foam  of  the 
sea,  and  a  yearly  festival  is  still  held,  in  which  all  go 
out  on  the  water  in  boats ;  it  is  believed  to  be  on  the 
anniversary  of  Venus'  birth  from  the  sea,  and  so  cele- 
brated. Anciently  young  men  specially  sought  wives  on 
these  festival  occasions ;  no  doubt  many  do  still. 

Ezek.  27:  6  rej^resents  these  islands  as  making  box 
and  cedar  wood  fabrics,  inlaid  with  ivory.  They  have 
maintained  this  habit  to  the  present  time,  although 
ivory  has  given  place  to  mother  of  pearl,  which  is  prob- 
ably meant  by  the  prophet,  for  when  we  reached  Ehodes, 
the  next  point  at  which  we  anchored,  the  natives  came 
on  board  with  large  baskets  full  of  boxes  for  tobacco, 
matches,  card  cases,  etc.,  with  books  and  birds,  and 
canes  of  olive  and  lemon  wood,  some  of  them  contain- 
ing at  least  fifty  pieces  of  mother  of  pearl,  manufactured 
by  the  state  prisoners,  and  selling  very  cheap. 


217 

We  all  bonglit  several  articles  apiece.  The  most  pop- 
ular article  of  auy  seemed  to  be  a  bird.  It  was  made  so 
that  the  wings  open  and  shut  on  hinges,  and  the  back 
with  the  wings  open  on  another  hinge,  showing  a  jewel 
case  ill  the  body.  As  they  hurried  from  the  boat  one  of 
these  birds  was  dropped  from  the  basket  in  which  the  y 
were  carried.  I  and  a  G-reek  Priest  were  the  first  parties 
on  deck  next  morning,  and  he  found  it.  I  told  him  that 
the  Captain  would  take  it  back  to  the  owners  when  the 
vessel  returned  and  it  should  be  sent  back  to  them.  The 
thought  of  such  a  thing  seemed  strange  to  him.  He- 
said  such  things  were  never  done  thereabouts ;  and  I 
judge  he  spake  truly  if  he  did  not  act  honestly. 

Very  anciently  there  was  a  high  state  of  civilization 
among  the  Rhodians,  and  they  were  very  powerful  in 
commerce  and  on  the  seas,  and  Strabo  tells  us  that  the 
city  of  Rhodes  was  more  magnificent  than  either  Rome 
or  Alexandria,  both  of  which  he  had  visited.  Rhodes 
(the  island)  furnished  three  of  the  cities  that  formed  the 
Dorian  Hexapolis.  These  three  afterwards  united  to  make 
the  city  of  Rhodes,  B.  C.  409.  184  years  later  they  erected 
the  statue  of  Apollo,  105  feet  high,  which  stood  little 
over  half  a  century  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world. 
The  Romans  drew  largely  on  their  codes  of  civil  laws, 
which  were  in  advance  of  those  of  other  contemporane- 
ous nations.  Some  of  our  tourists  heard  a  Greek  relate 
that  when  a  disturbance  arose  between  the  women  of  the 
island  to  break  it  up  a  reward  was  offered  to  the  woman 
who  could  dive  the  deepest  and  stay  under  longest. 

They  were  engaged  in   many  of    the  wars   that  were 

waged    on   the  various   coasts    of    the    Mediterranean. 

They  very  bravely  fought  to  maintain  their  independence 
14 


218 

against  the  European  masters  from  Greece  and  Italy. 
They  submitted,  however,  to  Alexander,  but  renounced 
the  domination  of  his  successors.  It  is  painful  now  to 
see  the  degenerate  race  that  occupy  where  once  large 
wealth  and  learning  were  common ;  now  there  is  a  pro- 
scription on  even  the  effort  to  learn  to  read ;  scarcely  five 
per  cent,  of  the  people  can  write  their  names ;  nor  is  it 
vastly  better  in  most  of  these  classic  islands.  I  might 
relate  sad  tales  of  fire  and  bloodshed  in  the  history  of 
several  of  the  group  forming  the  Grecian  Archipelago, 
but  the  school  boy  can  find  them  all  in  his  history. 

The  next  day  after  leaving  Rhodes  we  came  fairly  into 
the  Grecian  Archipelago.  From  the  deck  one  sees  islands 
rise  from  the  water,  seeming  to  shut  us  in  on  all  sides  ; 
now  one  rises  suddenly  from  the  sea  and  projects  several 
hundred  feet  into  the  air ;  some  rise  into  lofty  mountains, 
one  or  two  of  which  were  covered  on  top  with  snow, 
while  others  stretch  far  away  into  undulating  hills  and 
plains.  At  sunrise  we  sight  Kos,  or  Cos,  far  ahead ;  it 
seems  that  we  will  leave  it  to  the  right,  when  the  ship 
turns  North  and  we  leave  it  to  the  left.  Everybody 
wishes  to  see  all  they  can  of  Kos,  and  are  above,  with 
glasses,  taking  in  that  part  nearest  the  ship.  Here 
Hippocrates  was  born,  the  great  medical  man,  and  some 
claim  Apelles,  the  famous  artist,  who  painted  a  portrait 
of  Alexander  the  great,  who  would  not  suffer  it  done  by 
any  other  artist.     Kos,   the  capital,  is  a  pretty  seaport 

Soon  we  come  to  Halicarnassus,  the  birth  place  of 
the  great  historian,  Herodotus,  of  Dionysius,  and  Hera- 
clitus,  the  poet,  the  principal  city  of  the  island  of  Caria. 
It  was  here  that  Artemesia,  the  Queen,  354  B.  C,  built 
the  famous  Mausoleum   over   her  husband,  Mausolus, 


219 

that  ranked  as  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world. 
Causmg  his  bones  to  be  burned  and  powdered,  she  put 
the  ashes  thus  made  into  water,  which  she  drank  until 
she  had  made  herself  to  receive  all  that  remained  of  her 
lamented  lord.  It  was  far  off  our  line  and  we  could  only 
see  it  through  glasses. 

We  next  land  at  Leros,  a  town  of  3,000  inhabitants, 
built  in  and  on  the  steep  sides  of  a  ravine.  From  the 
sea  back  the  houses  rise  like  stairsteps.  On  one  hill  top, 
overhanging  the  city,  are  the  remains  of  the  old  fortress, 
besieged  so  long  in  vain  by  the  Turks  ;  on  another  are 
about  half  a  dozen  windmills  with  giant-like  arms, 
which  look  very  lazy  to  one  accustomed  to  seeing  every 
thing  done  by  steam  power.  We  pass  Patmos  without 
stopping.  Hither  the  proud  Roman  thought  to  exile 
and  silence  God's  Apostle.  But  from  this  rock  pulpit 
he  preached  so  loud  all  nations  shall  hear  him.  Tradi- 
tion points  out  the  spot  where  the  revelation  was  given. 
A  monastery  has  been  built  near  by,  the  location  of 
which  we  could  dimly  see ;  the  island  was  in  view  for 
several  hours.  Of  course  there  was  universal  regret 
that  we  must  be  content  with  merely  looking  from  the 
ship's  deck,  instead  of  traversing  from  side  to  side,  and 
gathering  at  least  a  flower  or  a  stone  as  a  memento  of  a 
\dsit  to  the  one  island  of  all  the  seas  most  sacred  by  its 
associations  to  every  Christian  ;  but  anxious  as  we  were 
to  stop,  and  glad  as  we  would  have  been  to  linger,  it 
was  different  with  those  who  managed  the  ship.  A 
famous  writer  then  on  board  says  : 

"Patmos  is  the  embodiment  of  sternness  and  force;  its  altitude 
is  that  of  a  giant  who  had  thrust  himself  up  and  out  of  the  sea, 
and  stood  through  the  ages  defying  its  power.  As  the  plain  of 
Bethlehem  was  pre-eminently  adapted  to  ttie  heavenly  visita- 


220 

tion  and  jubilant  song  of  the  shepherds,  so  this  bleak  barren 
rock  is  in  harmony  with  the  revelations  of  the  absolute  triumph 
of  God  over  sin  and  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  over  all  king- 
doms, there  given  to  John. 

"Nor  is  there  any  thing  within  or  without  the  Bible  more 
sublime  than  this : 

*"I,  John,  who  also  am  your  brother,  and  companion  in  trib- 
ulation, and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ,  was 
in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ.'  " 

About  sunset  we  passed  Scio,  one  of  the  many  places 
that  claim  to  be  the  birth  place  of  Homer. 

"Seven  cities  boast  the  birth  of  Homer  dead, 
Through  which  the  living  Homer  begged  his  bread." 

We  pass  many  steamers  and  sail  boats  in  these  waters, 
indicating  a  vast  amount  of  commerce.  I  have  often 
wondered  how  ships  could  sail  so  much  among  these 
islands  without  shipwreck.  The  seas  are  deep  to  the 
very  shores,  however.  They  have  erected  light-houses 
where  the  danger  is  greatest,  and  lie  to  Avhen  it  is  very 
dark.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  wonder  of  sailors' 
skill  and  good  judgment  and  great  success  does  not 
cease.  And  we  lie  down  to  sleep,  feeling  secure  in  their 
hands  under  the  merciful  p»rotection  of  the  Father  of  us 
all.     We  awake  in  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Smyrna. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


SMYRNA  AND  EPHESUS. 


We  landed  at  Smyrna  on  Sunday  morning,  and  as 
usual  had  the  Turkish  Custom-house  Officers  to  pry 
into  every  little  parcel  in  our  baggage ;  this  may  com- 
monly be  avoided,  however,  by  giving  them  backsheesh. 
If  time  is  precious,  or  one  has  doubtful  articles,  liable 
to  duty,  or  does  not  care  to  have  a  rough  march  through 
one's  luggage,  it  pays  to  end  the  matter  by  giving  a 
franc.  If,  on  the  contrary,  one  has  plenty  of  time, 
nothing  liable  to  duty,  and  wishes  to  see  what  a  Turk 
can  do  in  the  matter  of  impudence  and  disregard  for 
others'  property  or  feelings,  when  he  has  an  opportuni- 
ty, one  only  has  to  give  up  his  baggage  and  seem  not  to 
understand  that  he  should  pay  any  "thank  money," 
and  the  officer  will  show  him  pretty  soon.  Smyrna  has 
a  population  of  200,000  to  300,000,  and  with  its  suburbs 
extends  ten  or  twelve  miles  around  the  bay. 

It  has  the  prettiest  quay  I  have  seen  anywhere,  and  a 
row  of  buildings  for  two  miles  facing  the  sea,  that  for 
elegance  would  adorn  any  city.  They  are  largely  coffee 
houses,  (Turks  have  no  bar-rooms  except  for  'infidels," 
that  is.  Christians,)  with  dwellings  overhead,  offices, 
hotels,  and  private  mansions.  The  street,  100  feet  wide 
and  three  feet  above  the  water,  inclines  towards  the  bay 
just  enough  to  carry  off  the  rain,  and  is  traversed  the 
whole  distance  by  a  tram-way  track,  at  the  end  of  which 


222 

is  the  railwa}"  to  Aidin.  Across  the  bay  steam  yachts 
or  ferry-boats  go  fl}dng  every  few  minutes  laden  with 
passengers  to  and  from  some  suburb,  while  a  score  of 
steamers  of  all  the  European  nations  load  and  unload 
their  cargoes.  It  would  be  well  not  to  leave  the  quay, 
for  very  little  else  is  so  charming ;  all  the  other  streets 
are  narrow  and  mostly  very  filthy.  I  remember  to  have 
seen  dead  dogs  and  cats  and  rats  which  were  removed 
only  by  the  slow  process  of  decomposition.  Nor  were 
these  sights  the  worst.  I  went  through  their  fish  mar- 
ket. It  is  a  study  for  the  Zoologist — shell  fish,  slick 
fish,  scaly  fish,  red  fish,  black  fish,  abound.  When  there, 
it  would  appear  that  there  was  nothing  in  town  but  fish. 
It  is  largely  so  in  the  vegetable  quarter.  Then  in  the 
bazaars,  all  covered  over  with  an  arch-way,  and  divided 
up  into  stalls  much  like  a  livery  stable,  in  each  of  which 
a  Turk  sits  cross-legged.  The  way  these  Turks  sit  cross- 
legged  and  read  the  Koran  during  business  hours  is 
totally  unlike  any  thing  an  American  sees  at  home ; 
oblivious  to  all  but  his  book,  till  his  goods  are  called  for, 
then  he  shows  the  greatest  anxiety  to  trade.  Their  ba- 
zaars have  sections  for  certain  kinds  of  goods,  each 
consisting  of  many  stores,  calico  merchants,  silk  merch- 
ants, tobacco  nargeleh  (or  pipe)  merchants,  etc.,  with 
some  good  French  and  Jew  stores. 

The  London  Daily  News,  1890,  gives  the  following  in- 
teresting facts  and  figures  about  Smyrna : 

"According  to  Consul-General  Holmwood's  report  the  popu- 
lation numbers  210,850.  But  of  this  total  only  52,000  are  Mo- 
hammedans. The  Mohammedans  are  largely  outnumbered  by 
the  Greeks,  who  count  62,000,  exclusive  of  45,000  "Greek  sub- 
jects." The  railways  are  wholly  under  British  management 
and  have  been  constructed  by  British  capital.  The  gas-lighting 
of  Smyrna  is  the  work  of  a  British  company ;  but — and  here 


223 

comes  the  ironv  of  the  situation— 'the  municipality  of  Smyrna  is 
at  present  wholly  composed  of  Ottoman  suhjects.'  To  sum  up 
the  position,  Smyrna  is,  as  far  as  population  goes,  a  Greek  city  ; 
as  far  as  public  works  with  their  capital  outlay  are  concerned, 
an  English  city  ;  but  as  regards  government,  a  Turkish  city. 
The  Turk  is  the  incubus.  As  a  commercial  port  Smyrna  the 
Beautiful  has  several  great  advantages  over  Constantinople,  but 
so  lona  as  the  Turk  blocks  the  way  the  vast  development  of 
which'smyrna  is  capable  will  be  retarded.  It  is  the  same  all 
over  tie  Mediterranean  and  Black  sea  coasts.  Wherever  there 
is  progress  the  Greek  is  at  the  bottom  of  it." 

The  population  is  heterogeneous,  consisting  of  Turks, 
Greeks,  French,  British,  Jews,  etc.  The  Greeks  are 
very  much  like  the  Jews  in  appearance.  The  houses, 
which  are  jammed  together  too  close  to  allow  of  a  yard 
or  garden,  or  even  a  street  wide  enough  for  a  vehicle, 
often  are  supplied  on  the  upper  or  second  story  with  a 
projecting  balcony  or  box  with  glass  windows  on  all 
sides,  called  masharobeahs,  which  are  often  latticed.  In 
these  the  ladies  sit  to  witness  life  on  the  streets  below. 

I  attended  services  at  the  English  church  on  Sunday, 
and  at  the  Sailors'  Bethel,  called  Smyrna  Rest,"  Sunday 
night,  when  Dr.  Buckley  preached  to  a  small  band  of 
sailors,  and  I  gave  a  short  talk  and  prayer. 

Protestantism  meets  with  the  most  violent  opposition 
here,  both  from  the  Greeks  and  Mahometans.  The 
American  mission,  however,  has  a  good  church  and  two 
good  schools.  I  met  one  missionary,  rather  an  aged 
man;  he  was  hopeful  of  final  results.  One  good  thing 
in  Smyrna  attracted  our  notice— their  observance  of  the 
Sabbath  day.  All  shops  were  shut  except  restaurants 
and  cafes.  We  also  saw  a  policeman  arrest  a  vender  of 
green  fruit  (almonds  I  believe)  as  if  they  had  some  re- 
gard for  the  health  of  the  people. 


224 

The  English  Church  has  in  large  letters  above  the 
pulpit  the  following : 

"  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life^ 

In  the  following  is  the  only  reference  to  Smyrna  in 
Ihe  Bible,  and  that  is  by  our  Lord  : 

"I  know  thy  works,  and  tribulation,  and  poverty,  (but 
thou  art  rich)  and  I  know  the  blasphemy  of  them  which 
say  they  are  Jews,  and  are  not,  but  are  the  synagogue  of 
Satan.  Fear  none  of  those  things  which  thou  shalt 
suffer :  behold,  the  devil  shall  cast  some  of  you  into 
prison,  that  ye  ma}^  be  tried  :  and  ye  shall  have  tribula- 
tion ten  days:  be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will 
give  thee  a  crown  of  life.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him 
hear  w^hat  the  spirit  saith  unto  the  churches  :  He  that 
overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second  death." — 
Rev.  2:  9-11. 

Smyrna  contained  one  of  the  seven  churches,  whose 
site  is  still  shown.  It  is  a  very  ancient  city,  though 
many  think  the  original  city  was  some  miles  aw^ay. 
The  present  one  was  built  or  rebuilt  by  the  order  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  in  consequence  of  a  vision  he  had 
on  Mt.  Pagus,  by  Antigones  and  Lysimachus,  after  his 
death.  I  went  up  on  Mt.  Pagus  for  the  view.  In  as- 
cending we  passed  the  tomb  of  Polycarp,  a  disciple  of 
John,  and  by  some  believed  to  have  been  the  "angel  o^ 
the  church  in  Smyrna."  On  the  summit  or  acropolis 
is  an  old  fort  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation,  though  not 
dating  prior  to  mediaeval  times  ;  in  this  is  said  to  be 
remains  of  the  old  church  or  mosque  in  which  Polycarp 
preached.  We  are  now  about  500  or  600  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  behold  a  splendid  panorama.  The  quiet  city 
at  our  feet,  beyond,  the  bay  with  every  variety  of  boats, 


225 

from  the  trim  caik  to  the  great  ocean-going  iron-clad, 
and  far  and  near  many  a  suburban  village  nestles  be- 
tween the  mountains  and  the  sea.  Farther  out  are  the 
islands  of  the  Grecian  Archipelago.  Just  here,  on  the 
mountain  side,  is  the  old  theater,  its  proscenium  all  torn 
away  to  build  garden  walls  or  pave  the  streets,  its  shape 
scarcely  discernible,  where  2,000  years  ago  the  tragedies 
of  Sophocles  and  the  Comedies  of  Aristophanes  delight- 
ed the  airy  minds  of  the  Greek  populace,  and  where, 
nearly  1800  years  ago,  Polycarp  was  sacrificed  to  make 
a  holiday  sensation.  When  the  Pro-consul  said:  "Blas- 
pheme Christ  and  I  will  release  you,  he  replied:  "Eighty 
and  six  years  I  have  served  him,  and  he  hath  never 
wronged  me;-  how  then  can  I  blaspheme  my  king  who 
hath  saved  me."  We  look  towards  the  interior;  how 
splendid !  There  is  the  caravan  bridge,  and  the  ceme- 
teries above  which  wave  graceful  cypresses;  there  are 
the  country  roads  wu:iding  their  tortuous  way  for  many 
a  mile  until  lost  behind  the  hills,  and  the  railways  with 
trains  hurrying  on  with  western  ideas  for  this  slug- 
gish people  ;  in  the  background  a  re  the  many  mountains 
where  nymphs  and  Goddesses  were  born,  and  the  spirits 
of  poesy  and  song  emanated  to  immortalize  their  favor- 
ite offspring.  It  seemed  as  if  there  lingered  still  the 
enchantment  known  to  nature's  sons. 

I  descended  to  go  to  Ephesus,  that  I  might  see  more 
of  this  inexhaustible  and  lovely  country,  so  miserably 
managed  under  Moslem  rule. 

Our  Consul  said  it  would  be  only  a  waste  of  time  and 
money  to  go  to  Ephesus — that  all  who  went  came  back 
disappointed ;  but  some  people  have  a  way  of  their  own ; 
such  composed  our  party.  At  the  station  I  met  Rev. 
Mr.  Mills,  President  of  Earlham  College.     We  two  failed 


226 

to  telegraph  for  horses,  which  Drs.  Buckle}'  and  Bancroft 
and  Bishop  Fowler  were  careful  to  do.  But  we  were 
well,  while  several  of  their  part}"  were  not.  I  recently 
received  the  following  from  Dr.  Mills : 


"My  Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  recalls  to  my  memory  our  ex- 
ceedingly pleasant  acquaintance  in  the  East  last  spring. 

"That  journey  to  Ephesus  and  back,  and  our  rambles  in 
Athens  I  Ah,  those  were  experiences  worth  living  over  a  thou- 
sand times. 

"I  have  just  last  week  received  three  cases  of  Syrian  objects, 
including  a  plow,  yoke  and  goad,  a  mill,  &c.  &c. 
"Yours,  Fraternallv, 

J.  J.  Mills." 


The  site  of  Ephesus  is  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  and  a 
half  from  Ayasolook,  the  railway  station,  and  forty- 
nine  miles  from  Smyrna.  It  lay  on  all  sides  of  the 
small  mountain,  Prion,  and  at  the  foot  of  a  larger  one,. 
Mt.  Coressus,  separated  by  a  valley  about  500  feet  wide. 
In  this  valley,  and  on  the  side  of  Prion  next  to  Coressus, 
south,  was  one  of  their  gymnasiums,  the  walls  of  which 
are  still  in  situ,  and  near  the  gymnasium  the  Magnesian 
gate,  through  which  on  May  25th  of  each  year  proces- 
sions bearing  the  image  of  Artemis  came  from  the  Tem- 
ple of  Diana  along  the  Via  Sacra,  and  at  which  they 
were  met  by  Ephebi,  or  young  men  of  the  city,  and  so- 
were  led  to  the  theater,  and  afterwards  to  the  Corresian 
gate,  whence  they  returned  to  the  Temple,  having  pass- 
ed through  the  main  streets  of  the  city,  and  entirely 
around  Mt.  Prion ;  it  was  by  locating  the  gates  and 
tracing  the  course  of  the  streets  leading  from  them  that 
Wood  (1869)  discovered  the  long  lost,  and  until  then 
vainly  sought  temple  of  Diana.  Philostratus  says  a 
covered  way  led  from  the  Magnesian  gate  to  the  temple. 


227 

Going  south  from  the  Magnesian  gate  we  pass  the  Ba- 
silica, of  Roman  production,  the  agora  or  wool  market, 
the  Odeon,  or  Lyric  theater. 

This  is  built  on  the  South  side  of  Prion,  the  natural 
incline  of  the  hill  serving  for  the  elevation  of  the  seats. 
The  front  is  153  feet  in  diameter,  and  it  is  estimated  to 
have  had  a  seating  capacity  of  about  2300.  Wood,  who 
exhumed  the  buried  city,  found  here  the  statue  of  Lucius 
Verus,  now  in  the  British  Museum,  and  a  life-size  statue 
of  the  muse  Erato,  with  a  7 -stringed  lyre  and  a  pedestal 
at  her  side.  All  the  interior  of  the  Odeon  was  white 
marble,  vast  amounts  of  which  are  scattered  all  around; 
the  door-posts  and  many  seats  are  still  in  their  original 
position.  A  little  farther  on  towards  the  south  we  pass- 
ed another  market  place,  and  still  farther  on  the  west 
side  of  the  mountain  is  the  great  Theater,  which  is  of 
so  much  interest  because  of  its  connection  with  the  his- 
tory of  St.  Paul.  We  walked  about  through  the  vast 
but  wasted  place,  and  while  we  endeavored  to  recall  in 
imagination  the  ancient  splendor  of  the  pile  and  the 
excited  people,  who  "rushed  with  one  accord  into  the 
Theater,"  I  took  out  my  Bible  and  read  the  account  of 
the  excitement  stirred  up  by  Demetrius,  who  made  silver 
shrines  of  the  goddess  and  who  brought  great  gains  to 
the  craftsmen  making  and  selling  the  same — saying: 
"Sirs  ye  know  that  by  this  craft  we  have  our  wealth. 
Moreover  ye  see  and  hear  that  not  alone  at  Ephesus,  but 
almost  throughout  all  Asia,  this  Paul  hath  persuaded 
and  turned  away  much  people,  saying  that  they  be  no 
gods,  which  are  made  with  hands  :  So  that  not  only  this 
our  craft  is  in  danger  to  be  set  at  naught,  but  also  that 
the  temple  of  the  great  goddess  Diana  should  be  despised 
and  her  magnificence  should  be  destroyed,  whom  all  Asia 


228 

.and  the  world  worshippeth.     And  when  they  heard  these 
sayings  they  were  full  of  wa'ath  and  cried  out,  saying, 
Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians.     And  the  whole  city 
was  filled  with  confusion :  and  having  caught  Gaius  and 
Aristarchus,  men  of  Macedonia,  Paul's  companions  in 
travel,  they  rushed  with   one   accord   into   the   theatre. 
And  when  Paul  would  have  entered  in  unto  the  people, 
the  disciples  suffered  him  not.     And  certain  of  the  chief 
•  of  Asia,  which  were  his  friends,  sent  unto  him,  desring 
himth'dt  he  would  not  adventure  himself  into  the  theatre. 
Some  therefore  cried  one  thing  and  some  another:  for 
the  assembly  was  confused ;  and  the  more  part  knew  not 
w^herefore   they   were   come   together.     And  they  drew 
Alexander  out  of  the  multitude,  the  Jews  putting  him 
forward.     And  Alexander  beckoned  with  the  hand,  and 
would   have   made   his   defence  unto  ^he   people.     But 
Avhen  they  knew^  that  he  was  a  Jew,  all  with  one  voice 
..about  the  space  of  two  hours  cried  out.  Great  ^6'  Diana 
■of  the   Ephesians.     And  when  the  townclerk  had  ap- 
peased the  people,  he  said,    Ye  men  of  Ephesus,  what 
man  is  there  that  knoweth  not  how  that  the  city  of  the 
Ephesians  is  a  w^orshipper  of  the  great  goddess  Diana, 
.and  of  the  i  aage  which  fell  down  from  Jupiter  ?   Seeing 
then  that  these  things  cannot  be  spoken  against,  ye  ought 
to  be  quiet,    and   to    do    nothing   rashly.     For  ye  have 
brought  hither  these  men,  which  are   neither  robbers  of 
churches,  nor  yet  blasphemers  of  your  goddess.     Where- 
fore if  Demetrius,  and   the  craftsmen  which  are  with 
him,  have  a  matter  against  any  man,  the  law  is  open, 
.and  there  are  deputies :  let  them  implead  one  another. 
But  if  ye  inquire  any  thing  concerning  other  matters,  it 
.shall  be  determined  in  a  lawful  assembly.     For  we  are 
in  danger  to  be  called  in  question  for  this  day's  uproar, 


229 

there  being  no  cause  whereby  we  may  give  an  account  of 
this  concourse.  And  when  he  had  thus  spoken  he  dis- 
missed the  assembly." — Acts  19  :  25-41. 

This  theater  is  in  the  shape  of  a  horse-shoe,  and  is  495^ 
by  467  feet  through  the  two  greatest  diameters.  It  is 
variously  estimated  to  have  held  from  25,000  to  60,000 
people.  Like  the  Odeon,  itis  also  on  the  hill  side.  The 
front  and  gates  were  of  marble,  carved  into  figures  of 
exquisite  beauty.  This  was  repaired  after  the  temple 
had  been  destroyed,  as  shown  by  many  decrees  passed 
and  carved  on  the  stones  of  the  building,  one  of  which 
gives  citizenship  to  Agathocles  in  consequence  of  his 
giving  the  city  14,000  measures  of  corn.  One  is  a  de- 
cree of  Hadrian,  A.  D.  120. 

Evidently  this  theater,  or  some  similar  one,  suggested 
the  idea  of  the  Colosseum  to  Vespasian.  In  front  of  the 
theater  are  the  Agora  and  the  great  gymnasium,  while  a 
few  miles  west  we  look  out  upon  the  sea.  On  the  north 
side  of  Prion  is  the  Stadium  of  the  Augustinian  age, 
similar  to  that  of  Antioch,  where  Ben  Hur,  Aldebaran, 
Atair,  Antares  and  Rigel  made  themselves  to  be  sung  by 
the  women  and  children  in  the  tents,  because  of  victory 
over  the  insolent  Eoman.  We  try  to  find  the  seat  where 
poor  Simonides  and  Esther  would  have  sat  to  look  upon 
the  exciting  scene;  to  fix  the  place  where  the  unfortu- 
nate Messala  was  crushed  to  the  wall,  and  fill  the  great 
area,  nearly  one  thousand  feet  long,  with  excited  specta- 
tors. 

The  west  end  was  adorned  by  an  open  columniated 
screen  in  tiers.     The  bases  of  some  of  the  supporting 
columns  are  still  to  be  seen.     In  front  of  the  Stadium, 
to  the  west,  is  the  Serapion,  where  oiferings  were  made 
to  Serapis.     It  is  elevated  about  fifty  feet  above  the  race 


230 

•course  of  the  Stadium  and  covers  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  square  feet ;  in  the  center  is  a  hewn  rock  foun- 
dation containing  an  altar,  reached  by  four  flights  of 
steps  and  three  piers  for  columns  between  each  flight. 

Passing  out  by  where  once  stood  the  Corresian  gate,  a 
little  north  of  the  Stadium,  the  principal  street  led  to 
the  Temple  of  Diana  or  Artemis,  about  one  mile  north 
of  Prion.  On  the  east  of  Prion  is  the  cave  of  the  Seven 
Sleepers  and  many  Christian  tombs.  We  now  cross  the 
fertile  plain  and  the  Cayster,  formerly  much  larger  than 
at  present,  and  come  upon  the  site  of  one  of  the  seven 
wonders  of  the  world,  until  1869  concealed  from  human 
eyes  by  twenty  feet  of  siltings,  the  world-renowned  Tem- 
ple of  Diana ;  the  stoa  or  platform  covered  eight  acres, 
and  rested  on  a  bed  of  charcoal,  between  layers  of  mor- 
tar, charcoal  and  skins.  This  served  the  double  purpose 
of  diminishing  moisture  about  the  base  and  danger  of 
destruction  by  earthquakes.  The  temple  was  seven  times 
destroyed,  and  rebuilt  always  upon  the  same  foundation. 
The  last  but  one,  which  Pliny  says  was  220  years  in  build- 
ing, was  burned  by  Herostratus,  who  had  despaired  of 
making  a  great  name  by  fair  means,  and  thought  to  im- 
mortalize himself  as  an  iconoclast. 

The  city  fell  into  the  hands  of  Alexander  the  Great 
before  the  last  temple  was  finished;  the  previous  one  was 
burnt  on  the  night  of  his  birth.  He  offered  to  complete 
it  at  his  own  expense  if  the  Ephesian  City  Magnates 
would  allow  his  picture  to  be  placed  in  it,  but  they  re- 
fused by  the  flattering  but  evasive  reply  that  it  was  not 
fitting  that  one  God  should  pay  homage  to  another.  We 
copy  some  of  the  dimensions  of  this  wonderful  structure. 
On  the  lowest  step  it  measured  418  feet  by  239  feet  4 J 
inches.     The  pavement  of  the  peristyle  was  9^  feet  above 


231 

the  street  and  reached  by  14  steps  19  inches  wide  in  the 
tread.  The  temple  itself  was  312  feet  Qi  inches  by  163 
feet  9  J  inches,  and  was  octastyle,  i.  e.  with  8  columns  in 
front,  and  dipteral,  i.  e.  with  two  rows  of  columns  on  the 
sides.  These  were  in  rows  of  20  each,  one  hundred 
columns  in  all  (27  of  them  the  gifts  of  Kings)  of  the 
Ionic  order,  measuring  6  feet  J  inch  at  the  base  and  8  ^ 
diameters  in  height,  making  them,  base,  capital  and  all, 
about  60  feet  high.  We  saw  great  quantities  of  the 
ruins — many  drums — of  these  columns  scattered  about. 
The  parts  of  the  Temple  were  called  Pronaos,  or  porch 
in  front,  the  vestibule,  cella,  or  large  chamber,  at  the 
end  of  which  was  the  altar  for  sacrifices  ;  beyond  the 
altar  was  the  statue  of  the  goddess,  then  a  room  called 
Opisthodomos,  the  treasury,  and  the  Posticum  or  porch 
on  the  rear,  corresponding  to  the  Pronaos  on  the  front. 
(Some  of  these  temples  that  we  have  visited  are  very  sug- 
gestive of  the  human  nature  of  the  deities  inhabiting 
them,  notably  that  of  Denderah.) 

"  Ephesus  was  the  third  capitol  and  starting  point  of  Christi- 
anity, Jerusalem  and  Antioch  being  the  other  two.  Ephesus 
witnessed  its  full  development  and  the  final  amalgamation  of 
its  inconsolidated  elements  in  the  work  of  John,  the  Apostle  of 
Love.  It  lay  one  mile  from  the  Icarian  Sea,  in  the  fair  Asian 
meadow,  where  myriads  of  swan  and  other  waterfowl  disported 
themselves  amid  the  windings  of  Cayster.  Its  buildings  were 
in  the  delightful  neighborhood  of  the  Ortygian  Groves.  Its 
haven,  once  the  most  sheltered  and  commodious  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, had  been  silted  up  by  mistakes  in  engineering,  but 
was  still  thronged  with  vessel*  from  every  part  of  the  civilized 
world.  It  lay  at  the  meeting  point  of  great  roads  from  Sardis, 
Troas,  Magnesia  and  Antioch,  thus  commanding  access  to  the 
valleys  of  Hermus  and  Meander  and  the  interior.  Its  seas 
and  rivers  were  rich  with  fish  ;  its  air  was  salubrious  ;  its  posit- 
ion unrivalled ;  its  population  multifarious  and  immense.    Its 


232 

markets  glittering  with  the  produce  of  the  world's  art,  were  the 
Vanity  Fair  of  Asia.  They  furnished  to  the  exile  of  Patmos  the 
local  coloring  of  those  pages  of  the  Apocalypse  in  which  he 
speaks  of  "the  merchandise  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious 
stones,  and  of  pearls,  and  fine  linen,  and  purple,  and  silk,  and 
scarlet,  and  all  thyine  wood,  and  all  manner  vessels  of  precious 
wood,  and  of  brass,  and  iron,  and  marble,  and  cinnamon,  and 
odors,  and  ointment,  and  francincense,  and  wine,  and  oil,  and 
fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and  beasts,  and  sheep,  and  horses,  and 
chariots,  and  slaves,  and  souls  of  men.''     Rev.  17:  12,  13. 

And  Ephesus  was  no  less  famous  than  it  was  vast  and  wealthy. 
Perhaps  no  region  of  the  world  has  been  the  scene  of  so  many 
memorable  events  in  ancient  history  as  the  shores  of  Asia 
Minor.  The  whole  coast  was  in  all  respects  the  home  of  the 
best  Helenic  culture,  and  Herodotus  declares  that  it  was  the 
finest  site  for  cities  in  the  world  of  his  day.  It  was  from  Les- 
bos and  Smyrna  and  Ephesus  and  Halicarnassus  that  lyric  and 
epic  poetry  and  philosophy  and  history  took  their  rise.  It  was 
here  that  Anacreon  had  sung  the  light  songs  which  so  thorough- 
ly suited  the  light  temperament  ot  the  Greek  colonists  in  that 
luxurious  air ;  here  that  Mimnermos  had  written  his  elegies  ; 
here  that  Thales  had  given  the  first  impulse  to  philosophy  ; 
here  that  Anaximander  and  Anaximines  had  learned  to  inter- 
est themselves  in  those  cosmogonic  theories  which  shocked  the 
simple  beliefs  of  the  Athenian  burghers  ;  here  that  the  deepest 
of  all  Greek  thinkers,  "Heraclitus  the  Dark,"  had  meditated  on 
those  truths  which  he  uttered  in  language  of  such  incomparable 
force ;  here  that  his  friend  Hermodorus  had  paid  the  penalty  of 
virtue  by  being  exiled  from  a  city  which  felt  that  its  yices  were 
rebuked  by  his  mere  silent  presence  ;  here  that  Hipponax  had 
infused  into  his  satire  such  deadly  venom  ;  here  that  Parrhasius 
and  Apelles  had  studied  their  immortal  art.  And  it  was  still 
essentially  a  Greek  city.  .  .  .  While  the  presence  of  a  few 
noble  Romans  and  their  suites  added  to  the  gaiety  and  power 
of  the  city,  it  did  not  aff'ect  the  prevailing  Hellenic  cast  of  its 
civilization,  which  was  far  more  deeply  imbued  with  Oriental 
than  with  Western  influences,  ^ch  was  the  city  in  M'hich  St. 
Paul  found  a  sphere  of  work  unlike  any  in  which  he  had  hith- 
erto labored.  It  was  more  Hellenic  than  Antioch,  more  Orien- 
tal than  Corinth,  more  popular  than  Athens  and  more  wealthy 
and  more  refined  than  Thessalonica,  more  sceptical  and  more 
superstitious  than  Ancyra  or  Pessinus.    It  was,  with  the  excep- 


233 

tion  of  Rome,  by  far  the  most  important  scene  of  all  his  toils, 
and  was  destined  in  after  years  to  become  not  only  the  ^rst  of 
the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  but  the  seat  of  one  of  those  great 
<Ecumenical  Councils  which  defined  the  faith  of  the  Christian 
world. 

The  character  of  the  Ephesians  was  then  in  very  bad  repute. 
It  was  the  headquarters  of  many  defunct  superstitions,  which 
owed  their  maintenance  to  the  self-interest  of  various  priestly 
bodies.  South  of  the  city  was  the  olive  and  cypress  grove  of 
Leto,  where  the  goddess  brought  forth  her  glorious  "twin-born 
progeny."  Here  was  the  hill  on  which  Hermes  proclaimed 
their  birth  ;  here  ihe  Curetes  protected  their  infancy  from  wild 
beasts  ;  here  Apollo  took  refuge  from  the  wrath  of  Zeus  after 
he  had  slain  the  Cyclopes ;  here  Bacchus  had  conquered  the 
Amazons  during  his  progress  through  the  East,  or  so  argued 
Ephesian  ambassadors  before  the  Roman  Senate  when  pleading 
for  right  of  Asylum.  Nor  did  they  see  that  it  was  a  right  ruins 
ous  to  the  morals  and  well-being  of  the  city.  Legend  told  how,, 
when  the  temple  was  finished  Mithridates  stood  on  its  summit 
and  declared  that  the  right  of  asylum  should  extend  around  it 
as  far  as  he  could  shoot  an  arrow,  and  it  flew  miraculously  a 
furlong's  distance. 

The  temple,  which  was  the  chief  glory  of  the  city,  and  one  of 
the  wonders  of  the  world,  stood  in  full  view  of  the  crowded 
haven,  the  temple  was  the  most  splendid  ornament  of  this- 
most  splendid  city  of  Asia.  This  temple— the  eighth— had 
been  rebuilt  with  ungrudging  magnificence  out  of  contributions 
furnished  by  all  Asia — the  very  women  contributing  to  it  their 
jewels,  as  the  Jewish  women  had  done  of  old  for  the  Tabernacle 
of  the  Wilderness.  It  gleamed  far  oflf  with  a  star-like  radiance. 
Its  peristyle  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  pillars  of  the 
Ionic  order  hewn  out  of  Parian  marble.  Its  doors  of  carved 
cypress-wood  were  surmounted  by  transoms  so  vast  and  solid 
that  the  aid  of  miracles  was  invoked  to  account  for  their  eleva- 
tion. The  staircase  that  led  to  the  roof  was  said  to  have  been 
cut  from  a  single  vine  of  Cypress.  Within  were  the  master- 
pieces of  Praxitiles,  and  Phidias,  and  Scopas,  Polycletus.  Paint- 
ings by  the  greatest  of  Greek  artists,  of  which  one— the  likeness 
of  Alexander  the  Great  by  Apelles  — had  been  bought  for  a  sum 
equal  to  $25,000  of  modern  money,  adorned  the  inner  walls. 
The  roof  of  the  temple  itself  was  of  cedar-wood,  supported  by 
columns  of  jasper  on  bases  of  Parian  marble.  On  these  pillars 
15 


234 

hung  gifts  of  priceless  value,  the  votive  offerings  of  grateful  su- 
perstition. At  the  end  of  it  stood  the  great  altar  adorned  by  the 
bas-relief,  behind  which  fell  the  vast  folds  of  a  purple  cur- 
tain. Behind  this  curtain  was  the  dark  and  awfiil  adytum  in 
which  stood  the  most  sacred  idol  of  classic  heathendom  ;  and 
again  behind  the  adytum  was  the  room,  which  inviolable  under 
divine  protection,  was  regarded  as  the  wealthiest  and  securest 
bank  in  the  ancient  world. 

The  image  for  which  had  been  reared  this  incomparable 
shrine  was  so  ancient  that  it  shared  witli  the  Athene  of  the 
Acropolis,  the  Artemis  of  Tauris,  the  Demeter  of  Sicily,  the 
Aphrodite  of  Paphos  and  the  Cybele  of  Pessinus,  the  honor  of 
being  regarded  as  "an  image  that  fell  from  heaven."  She  was 
represented  on  coins— which  may  have  easily  passed  through 
the  hands  of  Paul — as  a  figure,  swathed  like  a  mummy,  covered 
with  monstrous  breasts,  and  holding  in  one  hand  a  trident  and 
in  the  other  a  club.  The  very  ugliness  and  uncouthness  of  the 
idol  added  to  the  superstitious  awe  which  it  inspired.  The 
Jewish  feelings  of  St.  Paul  would  have  made  him  regard  it  as 
pollution  to  enter  her  temple  ;  but  he  must  have  seen  on  coins 
and  paintings  and  in  direct  copies  the  strange  image  of  the 
great  Artemis  of  the  Ephesians,  whose  worship,  like  that  of  so 
many  fairer  and  more  human  idols,  his  preaching  would  doom 
to  swift  oblivion."— i^«rrar's  Paul  at  Ephesus. 

The  Goths  set  fire  to  this  last  temple,  A.  D.  226  aud 
fhe  world's  great  centers  have  gone  on  changing  from 
place  to  place,  until  Ephesus,  once  so  magnificent,  has 
so  well  nigh  perished  as  to  be  almost  forgotten.  Once 
Antony  and  Cleopatra  lived  here ;  once  Alexander  beg- 
ged in  vain  for  honors  it  might  give ;  once  here  was  the 
image  that  "all  Asia  and  the  world  worshippeth"  en- 
throned in  "marble  halls."  Here  Paul  fought  with 
beasts,  because  of  the  advantage  he  should  gain  by  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  Here  was  one  of  the  seven 
churches  to  whom  John  was  commissioned  to  write  and 
say :  "I  know  thy  works  and  thy  labor  and  thy  patience, 
nevertheless  I  have  somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou 


235 

hast  left  thy  first  love."  Here  was  that  band  of  brethren 
whom  Paul  "ceased  not  to  warn  day  and  night  with 
tears,  by  the  space  of  three  years,"  and  to  whom  he  after- 
wards wrote  from  Rome,  by  Tychicus,  his  "most  sub- 
lime" and  "majestic"  epistle,  so  full  of  encouragement, 
solicitous  exhortation  and  prayer.  Some  think  also  from 
Ephesus  was  written  the  first  epistle  to  Corinthians. 

Alas,  that  all  this  greatness  should  perish — that  these 
splendid  monuments  now  should  be  inhabited  only  by 
bats,  jackals  and  serpents — that  these  columns  and 
gates  should  be  put  into  mean  and  useless  fences ;  yet 
so  it  is. 

Still  further  to  the  north  is  an  old  Castle,  built  by  the 
Knights  of  St.  John  in  the  14th  and  loth  centuries ; 
also  a  Mohammedan  mosque,  into  which  much  of  the 
material  of  the  temple  was  worked.  On  this  side  are 
left  standing  a  few  of  the  pillars  of  the  ancient  aqueduct 
that  supplied  the  city  with  water.  On  the  tops  of  these, 
about  40  feet  high,  the  storks  build  and  rear  their  young. 
They  were  very  numerous,  tame  as  chickens,  and  digni- 
fied m  appearance. 

It  was  our  good  fortune  to  have  the  best  guide  procu- 
rable— Mr.  Mills  and  I — one  who  was  with  with  Wood 
in  his  excavations,  1863-1869,  and  knew  how  to  guide 
fairly  well.  Quite  satisfied  with  our  visit,  at  4  p.  m.  we 
took  the  cars  for  Smyrna.  The  scenery  was  very  fine. 
To  the  north  was  Mt.  Tmolus,  covered  with  snow,  and 
on  both  sides  smaller  members  of  the  range  covered  with 
bright  'angelicas,  and  the  low  shrubbery  with  bursting 
buds  and  springing  grasses.  In  one  of  these  hills  the 
myths  say  Artemis  was  born,  but  we  did  not  try  to  visit 
her  birth-place. 


236 

We  ran  upon  a  herd  of  several  hundred  horses  grazing, 
but  they  were  fearless  of  the  locomotive.  We  passed 
msLuy  fellahs  plowing  with  the  same  kind  of  plows  used 
thousands  of  years  ago.  However,  they  break  the  land 
well,  about  one  fourth  of  an  acre  per  day.  To-morrow 
we  shall  bid  adieu  to  Asia  and  sail  for  Greece. 

The  question  is  often  asked :  "If  Christianity  is  des- 
tined to  predominate,  why  have  Mussulmen  sway  in  the 
countries  where  once  Paul  preached  and  Christian  church- 
es stood,  which  have  gone  to  decay?"  It  may  be  said,  in 
reply,  that  the  religion  of  the  Moslem  is  nearer  to  the 
truth  than  either  the  ancient  Greek  or  Roman  paganisms 
which  prevailed  in  those  countries  referred  to,  and  the 
true  religion  has  more  protection  now  in  those  places 
than  it  then  had.  Besides,  the  aggressive  force  of  Chris- 
tianity has  been  expended  in  other  directions  rather  than 
at  those  places  where  it  began  to  manifest  itself.  Per- 
haps few  if  any  of  those  places  have  grown  worse  since 
Paul's  day.  Many  of  them  have  grown  better.  It  is 
true,  as  Carlisle  says  in  his  Hero-worship :  The  good  of 
the  old  is  retained  until  it  is  absorbed  by  and  recast  in 
the  new. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


FROM  ASIA  TO  GREECE. 


"Immortal  Greece— dear  land  of  glorious  lays, 

Lo  here  tlie  unknown  God  of  thine  unconscious  praise."— AV^/^. 

We  left  Smyrna  for  Athens  on  a  stormy  sea,  that  grew 
more  boisterous  every  mile  we  advanced,  and  only  three 
of  our  number  were  comfortable  on  deck,  of  whom  I 
was  one,  and  proud  to  think  myself  able  to  defy,  at  last, 
the  Mediterranean's  worst.  We  pass  on  the  route  the 
temple  of  Minerva  Sunium,  situated  on  a  high,  rocky 
promontory  overlooking  the  sea.  Out  of  sight  of  hu- 
man dwellings,  it  is  a  magnificent  ruin,  standing,  like 
"the  lone  Indian,"  a  sentinel  over  the  land  whose  glory 
has  departed,  and  the  seas  where  that  glory  was  largely 
won.  For  an  hour  before  reaching  the  harbor  Athens 
was  in  view — not  the  city  proper,  but  portions  of  it — 
and  the  Acropolis  stood  out  in  bold  relief  against  the 
April  sky.  All  glasses  were  brought  into  requisition. 
And  we  quote  Archdeacon  Farrar  to  portray  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  then  filling  our  minds : 

"Athens!  with  what  a  thrill  of  delight  has  many  a  modern 
traveler  been  filled  as,  for  the  first  time,  he  stepped  upon  that 
classic  land  I  As  he  approached  the  Acropolis  what  a  throng  of 
brilliant  scenes  has  passed  across  his  memory  ;  what  processions 
of  grand  and  heroic  and  beautiful  figures  have  swept  across  the 
stage  of  his  imagination !  As  he  treads  upon  Attic  ground  he  is 
in  'the  Holy  Land  of  the  Ideal ;'  he  has  reached  the  most  sacred 
shrine  of  the  'fair  humanities'  of  paganism.    It  was  at  Athens 


238 

that  the  human  form,  sedulously  trained,  attained  its  most  ex- 
quisite and  winning  beauty  ;  there  that  human  freedom  put 
forth  its  most  splendid  power  ;  there  that  human  intellect  dis- 
played its  utmost  subtlety  and  grace ;  there  that  Art  reached  to 
its  most  consummate  perfection  ;  there  that  Poetry  uttered  alike 
its  sweetest  and  sublimest  strains  ;  there  that  Philosophy  at- 
tuned to  the  most  perfect  music  of  human  expression  its  loftiest 
and  deepest  thoughts.  Had  it  been  possible  for  the  world  by 
its  own  wisdom  to  know  God ;  had  it  been  in  the  power  of  man 
to  turn  into  bread  the  stones  of  the  wilderness ;  had  perfect 
happiness  lain  within  the  grasp  of  sense,  or  been  among  the  re- 
wards of  culture  ;  had  it  been  granted  to  man's  unaided  power 
to  win  salvation  by  the  gifts  and  power  of  his  own  nature,  and 
to  make  for  himself  a  new  Paradise  in  lieu  of  that  lost  Eden 
before  whose  gate  still  waves  the  fiery  sword  of  the  Cherubim- 
then  such  ends  would  have  been  achieved  at  Athens  in  the  day 
of  her  glory.  No  one  who  has  been  nurtured  in  thf^  glorious 
lore  of  that  gay  and  radiant  city,  and  has  owed  some  of  his  best 
training  to  the  hours  spent  in  reading  the  history  and  mastering 
the  literature  of  its  many  noble  sons,  can  ever  visit  it  without 
deep  emotions  of  gratitude,  interest  and  love." 

The  topography  of  the  sea  and  land  required  us  to 
steam  by  the  city  in  order  to  come  into  port.  At  11  a. 
M.  we  reached  Piraeus,  the  harbor  of  Athens,  filled  with 
the  crafts  of  all  nations.  Four  miles  to  the  northeast  is 
Athens  with  75,000  inhabitants.  Some  of  us  go  up  in 
carriages,  some  on  the  cars. 

The  first  impression  made  on  the  mind  is  relief  at  the 
yast  improvement  upon  the  populations  of  Egypt,  Palestine 
and  Asia  Minor,  in  the  dwellings,  manners  and  clothing 
of  the  people.  Business  is  conducted  much  as  I  had  been 
used  to  at  home;  the  streets  w^ere  clean,  the  buildings 
tasteful,  and  life,  energy  and  snap  greeted  us  at  every 
turn.  I  and  President  Mills  hire  a  guide  to  conduct  us 
to  the  sights  of  Athens  of  yore.  We  go  first  to  the 
Temple  of  Theseus,  who  made  himself  immortal  on  the 
field  of  Marathon  before  the  haughty  Persian  was  van- 


239 

qnished  there ;  to  whom  was  ascribed  the  honor  of  uniting 
into  one  commonwealth  the  twelve  States  into  which 
Cecrops  divided  Attica,  after  destroying  the  Minotaur  of 
Minos,  who  required  a  tribute  of  fourteen  youths  and 
maidens  to  be  sent  every  nine  years  from  Athens  for  the 
monster  to  devour.  The  national  hero  of  the  Greeks, 
they  erected  this  temple  to  receive  his  bones  which  Cimon 
brought  from  Scyros,  B.  C.  469,  and  it  became  a  tomb, 
a  temple  and  an  asylum  all  in  one,  and  while  one  of  the 
earliest  works  of  ancient  Athens,  it  is  the  best  preserved ; 
104x45  feet,  having  a  peristyle  of  Doric  columns,  it 
served  as  a  model  for  the  advanced  age  and  national 
prosperity  that  produced  the  Parthenon  under  Pericles, 
the  first  of  Grecian  statesmen,  and  Phidias,  the  first  of 
cdl  sculptors.  We  then  went  to  the  so-called  prison  of 
Socrates,  where  he  is  said  to  have  drunk  the  fatal  cup  of 
hemlock.  It  is  only  traditional,  and  forever  beyond  tho 
reach  of  certainty,  but  certainly  every  indication  favors, 
the  tradition. 

It  is  a  cave,  divided  into  two  rooms,  cut  into  the  solid 
stone,  the  first  cave  or  room  faces  the  Acropolis,  and  is 
entered  by  a  door  of  about  ordinary  size ;  the  second  one, 
in  which  the  sage  was  confined,  is  entered  from  the  first 
by  a  narrow  door  on  the  back  side  and  near  the  right 
corner.  We  go  next  to  Areopagus  or  Mars'  Hill.  It  is. 
reached  by  sixteen  steps  which  though  cut  in  the  solid 
stone  are  nearly  worn  out,  one  or  two  being  gone  entirely, 
A  few  places  cut  smooth  on  the  top  point  out,  it  is 
thought,  where  the  accuser  and  accused  stood  in  trials 
held  here;  the  Council  that  met  here  was  called  the 
Upper  Council,  the  one  meeting  in  the  valley  being 
called  the  Council  of  Five  Hundred,     Its  name  is  derived 


240 

from  the  double  name  of  Mars  and  Ares.  He  was  tried 
on  this  hill,  for  the  murder  of  Neptune's  son,  by  the 
gods  and  the  place  has  since  been  called  Areopagus  or 
Mars'  Hill!  It  lies  to  the  west  of  and  one  hundred  feet 
below  the  Acropolis  and  is  separated  from  it  by  a  valley, 
ivhich  has  largely  been  filled  up  by  the  accumulation  of 
rubbish  for  many  centuries.  We  regreted  that  we  could 
not  stay  and  attend  the  service  to  be  held  there  the  day 
after  our  departure,  held  there  because  of  what  is  written 
in  Acts  17: 

Then  Paul  stood  in  the  midst  of  Mars'  hill,  and  said,  Ye  men 
of  Athens,  I  perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious. 
For  as  I  passed  by,  and  beheld  your  devotions,  I  found  an  altar 
with  this  inscription,  TO  THE  UNKNOWN  GOD.  Whom 
therefore  ye  ignorantly  worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you.  God 
that  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein,  seeing  that  he  is 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with 
hands ;  neither  is  worshipped  with  men's  hands,  as  though  he 
needed  anything,  seeing  he  giveth  to  all  life,  and  breath,  and 
all  things :  and  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  determined  the 
times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation; 
that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after 
him  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us:  for 
in  him  we  live,  and  move  and  have  our  being;  as  certain  also  of 
your  own  poets  have  said.  For  we  are  also  his  offspring.  Foras- 
piuch  then  as  we  are  the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to  think 
that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by 
.art  and  man's  device.  And  the  times  of  this  ignorance  God 
winked  at;  but  now  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent: 
because  he  hath  appointed  a  day  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the 
world  in  righteousness  by  thcU  man  whom  he  hath  ordained ; 
whereof  he  hath  j^iven  assurance  unto  all  men,  in  that  he  hath 
raised  him  from  the  dead. 

And  when  they  heard  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  some 
mocked :  and  others  said.  We  will  hear  thee  again  of  this  matter. 
So  Paul  departed  from  among  them.  Howbeit  certain  men 
clave  unto  him,  and  believed :  among  the  which  was  Dionysius 


241 

the  Areopagite,  and  a  woman  named  Damaris,  and  others  with 
them. 

Vandalism  has  well  nigh  done  its  worst  in  Athens. 
Only  think  of  demolishing  the  temples  that  were  not 
only  the  pride  and  glory  of  Athens  at  her  acme  of 
greatness  but  the  production  of  architectural  genius 
unrivalled  in  any  age,  for  material  with  which  to  shelter 
an  ignoble  race,  too  lazy  to  go  to  the  quarries,  or  of 
taking  the  columns  that  formed  the  supports  of  the  roof 
or  architraves  of  the  temples  of  Jove  or  Minerva,  and 
use  them  for  burning  lime  kilns,  and  we  have  a  sample 
•of  what  has  been  going  on  for  centuries,  and  an  answ^er 
to  the  question,  why  are  there  not  more  of  the  remains  of 
ancient  Athens  ?  Renan,  the  sceptic,  insinuates  that  the 
works  of  art  in  Athens  perished  because  St  Paul  called 
them  idols.     He  writes: 

"  Ah  beautiful  and  chaste  images ;  true  gods  and  true  god- 
desses, tremble!  The  mistakes  of  this  ugly  little  Jew  (St  Paul) 
will  be  your  death-warrant." 

It  was  their  death-warrant  as  gods,  but  only  as  gods. 

"  We  have  learned  to  see  God  in  all  that  is  refined  and 
heautiful;  whom  his  love  has  lifted  up  above  the  perils  of  an 
extinct  paganism ;  whom  His  own  word  has  taught  to  recognize 
sunbeams  from  the  Fountain  of  Light  in  every  grade  of  true 
^rt  and  every  glow  of  poetic  inspiration  may  thankfully  admire 
the  exquisite  creations  of  ancient  genius : — but  had  Paul  done 
so,  he  could  not  have  been  the  Paul  that  he  was." — Farrar. 

The  thought  occurs  that  only  by  searching  for  the  di- 
vine are  such  productions  obtained,  only  by  uplift  of 
soul  and  outstretching  of  his  powers  toward  his  God,  do 
man's  capacities  fully  develop  in  any  sphere  of  life. 

The  second  day  we  visited  the  Acropolis,  the  elevated 
rock  upon  which  Cecrops  began  to  build  Athens  1550  B. 


242 

■O.  It  is  a  nearly  level  area,  about  one  thousand  feet  from 
east  to  west  by  half  that  distance  from  north  to  south. 
It  was  fancifully  said  to  be  the  center  of  four  concentric 
circles,  viz.:  Athens  the  city,  Attica,  Greece,  the  world. 
It  is  entered  only  through  the  propylea,  on  the  west, 
the  finest  ever  built,  executed  under  the  direction  of 
Pericles,  and  though  much  abused  by  the  unappreciative 
rulers  that  haye  dominated  Greece  for  many  centuries^ 
and  the  ineyitable  friction  of  rolling  years,  the  mind 
easily  rebuilds  the  abused  but  still  graceful  structure,, 
and  rejoices  in  contemplation  of  what  it  once  was,  while 
we 

"  Sigh  for  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand 
And  voices  hushed  in  death  forever." 

We  pass  the  great  Propylea  and  stand  on  soil  pressed 
by  some  of  the  greatest  men  of  antiquity.  Just  to  the 
right  of  the  gate,  Lord  Byron  is  supposed  to  have  sat  as 
he  wrote  the  following  lines : 

"  Slow  sinks,  more  lovely  ere  his  race  he  run 
Along  Morea's  hills,  the  setting  sun ; 
Not,  as  in  northern  climes,  obscurely  bright, 
But  one  unclouded  blaze  of  living  light! 
O'er  the  hush'd  deep  the  yellow  beam  he  throws. 
Gilds  the  green  wave  that  trembles  as  it  glows. 
On  old  Aegina's  rock,  and  Idra's  isle. 
The  god  of  gladness  sheds  his  parting  smile. 
O'er  his  own  regions  lingering,  loves  to  shine. 
Though  there  his  altars  are  no  more  divine 
Descending  fast  the  mountain  shadows  kiss 
Thy  glorious  gulf,  unconquer'd  Salamis! 
Their  azure  arches  through  the  long  expanse 
More  deeply  purpled  meet  his  mellowing  glance, 
And  tendered  tints,  along  their  summits  driven, 
Mark  his  gay  course  and  own  the  hues  of  heaven 
Till,  darkly  shaded  from  the  land  and  deep. 
Behind  the  Delphian  cliff  he  sinks  to  sleep." 

Here  they  concentrated  their  thoughts,  their  genius' 
and  wealth  for  the  glory  and  p'rotection  of  their  nation. 


244 

On  this  area  were  to  be  found  many  templee  erected  in 
honor  of  their  gods  and  goddesses,  the  chief  of  which  was 
Minerva  or  Athena,  in  w^hose  honor  three  images  arose 
and  the  two  grandest  of  their  temples.  The  irregular 
Erectheum  and  the  Parthenon  both  contained  images  of 
Jove's  virgin  daughter.  The  Parthenon,  228  feet  long 
by  101  feet  wide,  which  contained  her  statue,  39  feet 
high,  the  work  of  Phidias  and  made  of  ivory  and  gold, 
covered  with  gold  ornaments  to  the  amount  of  nearly 
half  a  million  dollars,  presented  in  its  Doric  columns, 
metopes  and  fretted  frieze  not  only  the  best  study  of 
architecture,  but  the  righest  museum  of  sculpture  and 
choicest  collection  of  paintings  in  all  the  world:  "ded- 
icated to  the  national  glory  and  the  worship  of  the  gods." 

The  Venitians  bombarding  the  Turks  in  the  17th  cen- 
tury, set  fire  to  a  powder  magazine  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Parthenon,  and  well  nigh  demolished  this  temple. 
The  columns  on  the  west  end  present  many  indentations 
made  by  bombs  and  grape  shot.  May  we  not  hope  that 
a  perpetual  peace  has  settled  upon  the  Acropolis  at  last? 

The  present  King,  George,  has  shown  a  praiseworthy 
disposition  to  exhume  and  preserve  whatever  relics  still 
remain  undiscovered.  He  has  had  a  museum  fitted  up 
in  the  rear  of  the  Parthenon  for  the  reception  of  such 
relics  as  have  been  recently  found,  or  may  be,  and  had 
the  ancient  Stadium  excavated  a  year  or  two  since  at  his 
own  expense. 

We  went  through  the  museum  and  was  distressed  at 
the  paucity  of  the  remains  that  greeted  our  eyes.  We 
visited  the  Acropolis  on  three  successive  days,  with  the 
same  sense  of  admiration  for  the  Greeks  of  the  perisha- 
bility of  all  earthly  productions,  though  they  may  be 
marblf^  or  brass,  of  the  truth  of  the  poet's  words  that 


245 

"He  builds  too  low  who  builds  beueath  the  skies,"  and 
of  the  Scripture  that  saith  "Except  the  Lord  build  the 
house  they  labor  in  vain  who  build  it." 

The  atmosphere  seemed  to  be  charged  with  a  sombre 
enchantment,  and  a  solemn  grandeur  shrouded  the  six- 
teen remaining  columns  of  the  once  magnificent  temple 
of  the  Olympian  Zeus,  where  century  after  century  the 
patient  destroyer  has  beat  his  silent  vigils. 

The  Odeon,  or  Theatre  of  Herod,  is  still  to  be  seen  on 
the  south  side,  below  the  Acropolis,  and  east  of  this  the 
Theatre  of  Dionysius,  with  the  seat  of  Dionysius,  in 
which  we  sat.  It  is  one  piece  of  marble  with  rests  like  an. 
arm  chair,  and  his  name  is  carved  on  the  front  of  it  in 
Greek.  These  theatres  were  for  the  enactment  of  tra- 
gedies, recitations  of  poems,  etc.  The  seats  were  of 
stone  or  marble  and  were  arranged  in  semi-circular  re- 
ceding tiers,  one  above  another. 

There  was  a  pedagogue  surrounded  by  about  fifty  or 
sixty  young  men  and  boys  standing  at  the  entrance  of 
this  theatre,  and  our  guide  said  (for  though  I  had  read 
Greek  at  school,  I  could  not  understand  a  word  he  spoke), 
he  was  lecturing  on  the  political  history  of  Greece,  and 
striving  to  arouse  their  patriotic  impulses  by  speaking  to 
them  amid  the  ruins  of  better  times.  He  would  point 
to  the  Acropolis  above,  the  theatre  in  front,  the  country 
or  battle-fields  in  the  distance,  and  was  animated  in  hi& 
delivery  and  interesting  to  his  audience.  I  was  reminded 
of  the  old  peripatetics  of  whom  I  read  when  a  boy. 

Other  objects  of  which  I  may  not  speak  at  large  but 
which  we  could  not  afford  to  slight,  were  the  temple  of 
Nike,  or  the  Wingless  Victory,  at  the  threshold  of  the 
Acropolis,  Tower  of  the  Winds,  Stadium,  the  Gate  of 


246 

Hadrian,  on  the  west  side  of  which  an  inscription  says: 
This  is  the  city  of  Theseus."  One  on  the  east  side  says: 
This  is  the  city  of  Hadrian,  and  not  of  Theseus.  Ha- 
drian built  the  city  east  of  the  Agora  or  market  place, 
where  St.  Paul  disputed  "daily  with  them  that  met  with 
him." 

While  we  were  in  Athens  an  officer  of  the  army  died. 
The  pall-bearers  carried  him  through  the  streets  in  a 
coffin,  the  upper  part  of  w^hich  was  removed,  exposing 
the  profile  of  the  corpse  to  persons  on  either  side  of  the 
street. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


AMONGST  SAVANTS. 


The  morning  of  April  12th  was  somewhat  threatening  ; 
several  watery  looking  clouds  were  floating  through  the 
skies  not  very  high  above  the  Capitol  city  of  Greece. 
The  train  was  due  to  leave  the  station  for  Peloponnesus 
at  7  o'clock.  On  the  previous  evening,  seven  of  us  met 
in  the  parlor  of  the  Hotel  D'Estrangers,  where  all  were 
stopping  except  myself,  I  being  at  the  Hotel  of  the 
Ionian  Islands,  two  squares  away,  and  arranged  with  a 
guide  to  visit  Corinth  by  the  early  train.  The  distance 
was  three  hours,  and  we  had  six  hours  in  which  to  do 
old  Corinth  and  the  Acro-Corinthus,  which  was  the  chief 
object  of  our  visit. 

Five  of  our  company  were  preachers,  four  of  these 
D.  D's.;  five  were  Americans ;  two  were  college  Presi- 
dents; the  two  who  were  not  ministers  were  Sunday 
school  teachers. 

Soon  after  starting  we  passed  a  hillock  to  the  left, 
which  our  guide  called  the  Academy  of  Socrates,  a  little 
farther  on,  to  the  right,  the  place  where  Plato's  Academy 
was,  or  his  garden  which  he  inherited  and  in  which  he 
is  said,  by  Diogenes,  to  have  taught,  as  well  as  in  the 
Academy.  Near  by  our  guide  pointed  out  the  birth- 
place of  Miltiades  and  the  plain  in  which  the  first  cereals, 
given  by  the  goddess  Ceres  for  the  rescue  of  her  daugh- 
ter, Proserpine,  were  planted.  They  chose  a  good  place 
to  begin  at,  as  the  soil  is  still  very  fertile  after  continued 


248 

cultivation  for  more  than  twenty-five  centuries.  It  is  a 
dark  red  clay  and  had  a  fine  crop  of  wheat  or  barley 
growing  on  it  during  our  journey.  There  were  a  great 
many  poppies  in  full  bloom,  mingled  with  the  wheat, 
which,  however,  some  of  our  company,  better  versed  in 
Botany  than  myself,  contended  were  not  poppies,  but 
anemones,  or  something  else. 

It  is  in  the  same  locality  in  which  the  Greeks  claim 
the  first  Olive  tree  was  planted  on  earth  ;  they  still 
abound. 

Our  first  stopping  place  was  Eleusis,  once  powerful 
enough  to  contend  with  Athens  for  the  sovereignty  of 
Attica,  and  more  ancient  than  Athens  or  even  Ceres 
whom  they  worshipped,  whose  temple  the  Persians  de- 
stroyed when  they  invaded  Attica,  but  which  was  re- 
built by  Ictines  the  architect  of  the  Parthenon  under 
Pericles,  but  to  be  again  demolished  by  the  German  van- 
dal Alaric,  A.  D.  395.  Its  •  shattered  walls  stand  on  a 
rocky  knoli,  about  two  minutes  walk  from  the  station, 
in  the  midst  of  a  people  who  seem  not  only  to  have  no 
pride  at  remembrance  of  the  glory  attained  by  their  an- 
cestors, but  not  even  the  remembrance  of  that  glory  or 
even  conception  of  it ;  "  no  heritage  of  the  past  remains 
but  monuments,  decrepitude  and  corruption  ;" 

"  All  except  their  sun  is  set." 

The  road  winds  around  the  bay  of  Eleusis,  then  the 
gulf  of  iEgina  filled  with  small  islands.  We  saw  hun- 
dreds of  birds  floating  on  the  surface  seeming  to  be 
feeding  on  the  small  fishes  just  below  the  surface. 

The  hillsides  are  covered  with  worthless,  scrubby 
pines,  a  few  feet  high,  besides  which  we  saw  no  timber 
at  all.     We  passed  over  the  Corinthian  Isthmus  where 


249 

many  centuries  B.  C.  the  Isthmian  games  were  cele- 
brated, through  whicli  man}^  rulers  vainly  sought  to  cut 
a  channel  large  enough  for  the  passage  of  vessels. 
Among  those  wishing  thus  to  unite  the  Saronic  and 
Corinthian  gulfs  were  three  of  the  Caesars  and  Alexan- 
der the  Great,  and  previous  to  them  Diodorus  Polior- 
cetes,  who  abandoned  his  purpose  because  he  found  he 
would  inundate  the  country  on  the  Saronic  gulf!  How- 
ever, the  moderns  have  found  out  the  error  of  Demetrius 
and  will  soon  have  the  two  seas  flowing  together,  and 
Peloponnesus  will  be  an  island.  The  canal  is  cut 
through  the  stone  most  of  the  way,  and  is  one  or  two 
hundred  feet  deep  in  several  places,  judging  from  what 
I  could  see  from  the  cars  as  we  crossed. 

How  strange  to  think,  as  we  looked  upon  the  rougb. 
ground  between  the  two  seas,  almost  five  miles  apart- 
that  the  Greeks  used  to  draw  their  vessels  from  one  tO' 
the  other  overland  !  However,  that  was  previous  to  the 
days  of  ironclads  and  the  Great  Eastern.  We  stopped! 
at  Corinth  Station,  near  to  or  within  the  old  city  limits,, 
but  about  six  miles  from  the  citadel,  Acro-Corinthus. 

We  took  carnages  and  rode  to  a  small  village  of  half 

a  dozen  dwellings,   passing  on  the  route  several  places 

paved  with  smooth  stones  and  circular  in  shape,  about 

one  hundred  feet  in  diameter.     It  was  probably  on  one 

of  these  that  the  "sweet  Gallio"  had  his  "judgment  seat'^ 

when  the   Jews   made   "insurrection   with   one   accord 

against  Paul"  saying,  "This  fellow  persuadeth  men  to 

worship  God  contrary  to  the  law."     A  matter  of  so  small 

concern  to  him  that  he  drove  them  from   his  presence- 

and  looked  with  indifference  on,  while  they  beat  Sosthe- 

nes,  their  chief     To-day  hundreds  of  millions  could  be 

enlisted  in  defense  of  Paul's  attitude,  then   "  no  man 
16 


250 

stood  by  him."  Gallio,  the  Roman  Proconsul  gave  not 
a  thought  to  the  creed  of  Paul  or  of  the  other  Hebrews. 

Our  carriages  halted  in  a  cluster  of  houses  under  some 
large  sycamore  trees,  one  of  which  extended  its  ample 
shade  over  us  while  we  dined  on  a  rude  table,  for  the 
use  of  which  we  paid  a  drachma  ("20  cts.)  We  were 
soon  besieged  by  antiquity  venders,  having  ^^ genuine 
antiques,^^  tear  bottles,  cups,  kylixes,  &c.;  which  they 
said  were  once  used  by  the  ancient  Corinthians,  and 
which  may  have  been  several  months  old. 

Near  by  where  we  ate,  a  few  Doric  columns,  tied  at 
the  top  by  large  stones,  fragments  of  the  old  architrave, 
mark  the  site  of  the  only  remaining  temple  of  the  gods 
of  Corinth,  and  the  only  building  that  St.  Paul  looked 
upon  during  his  sojourn  here  of  nearly  two  years.  From 
this  temple  we  took  horses  and  rode  to  the  gates  of  the 
citadel,  about  three  miles  distant,  and  tvvo  thousand  feet 
high.  This  was  the  most  impregnable  fortress  known  to 
the  ancients,  called  the  "fetters  of  Greece"  by  Philip,  and 
.could  be  taken  only  by  surprise  or  treachery,  and  even 
since  the  days  of  artillery  can  be  taken  from  one  side 
•only,  a  pointed  rock  to  the  southwest  from  which  it  was 
battered  and  taken  by  Mohammed  the  Second.  There 
are  two  or  three  sets  of  gates  that  must  be  passed  ere 
one  can  reach  the  interior.  Within  the  walls  are  the  re- 
mains of  a  large  town,  perhaps  not  less  than  twelve 
thousand  people  once  lived  on  this  rocky  pinnacle  ;  none 
of  the  houses,  however,  remain  intact,  all  have  been  par- 
tially or  quite  torn  down.  Two  Mohammedan  mosques 
remain,  shattered  as  the  rest.  In  the  largest  one  about 
half-way  from  the  gates  to  the  highest  point  of  the  hill, 
two  cows  were  quietly  resting  in  the  shade,  cheWing 
their  cuds. 


251 

"Here  is  the  spring  at  which  Pegasus  was  drinking 
when  taken  by  Bellerophon."  At  proper  intervals  along 
the  walls  many  old  cannon  w^ere  distributed,  but  all  at 
which  they  could  belch  forth  their  missiles  of  woe  was 
gone. 

Where  two  thousand  years  ago  marble  temples  stood 
in  honor  of  Venus,  where  was  the  Stadium,  the  Theatre, 
the  Agora,  the  Lyceum  and  Academy,  all  was  still ;  Mo- 
hammed's legions  had  likewise  come  and  gone. 

A  few  patches  of  houses  (I  will  not  say  towns),  dis- 
graced the  ample  plains  below,  once  teeming  with  cul- 
tured citizens,  who  excelled  in  painting  and  casting  and 
working  of  glass  as  their  neighbors  at  Athens  did  in 
sculpture,  who  probably  were  the  authors  of  the  bronze 
Hercules  in  the  Vatican  which  cost  Pius  the  Ninth,  over 
ten  millions  of  pounds. 

A  few  crafts  float  in  the  harbors  of  the  opposite  seas, 
where  once  were  forests  of  masts,  whence  sailed  the 
first  w^ar  galleys  and  whither  came  the  commerce  of  all 
the  Orient. 

Looking  northwest  over  the  Corinthian  gulf  we  saw 
Mount  Parnassus,  home  of  the  Muses,  mantled  in  snow 
above  ancient  Delphi, 

"Where,  save  a  feeble  fountain,  all  is  still." 

Helicon  and  many  other  mountain  peaks  were  in  view, 
the  mention  of  whose  names  calls  to  mind  some  tragic 
event  inhistory,  some  metamorphosis  of  the  mythologist, 
some  immortal  song  of  the  poet. 

We  all  gathered  at  the  highest  point  and  scanned  the 
horizon  round  through  our  glasses,  then  the  nearer  land- 
scape, then  back  into  each  other's  eyes  to  read  reflections 


252 

that  might  find  expression  there.  What  melancholy 
emotions  involuntarily  arise  in  witnessing  how  the  glory 
of  man  may  vanish  and  come  to  nought  I 

We  returned,  reaching  Athens  about  7  p.  m.,  and  felt, 
as  President  Mills  expressed  it,  that  though  he  had  to  go 
over  the  road  three  times,  it  would  not  be  too  often. 

The  next  day,  in  company  with  three  of  the  gentle- 
men of  the  party  that  went  to  Corinth,  we  visited  the 
American  School  of  Archaeology,  History  and  Literature. 
We  met  Prof.  Rolfe,  a  graduate  of  Amherst  College,  and 
for  some  time  professor  in  the  University  of  Ohio.  Al- 
ready he  has  gained  an  enviable  place  among  modern 
archaeologists,  though  he  did  not  seem  to  be  past  twenty- 
five.  We  also  met  his  accomplished  young  wife,  a  fit 
companion  for  a  man  whose  chief  association  besides  is 
with  fragments  of  old  stones  exhumed  from  old  city 
sites  and  tombs. 

Prof.  Waldstein  is  in  charge  of  the  school,  and  it 
seems  to  be  in  excellent  hands.  He  will  be  remembered 
as  the  visitor  who  discovered  the  lost  metope  of  the  Par- 
thenon in  the  Louvre  at  Paris,  and  came  suddenly  before 
the  world  as  a  discoverer,  taking  high  rank  as  an  archae- 
ologist, which  position  he  has  ever  since  most  ably 
sustained. 

From  those  gentlemen  we  learned  that  a  student  can 
live  in  Athens,  have  free  use  of  the  school,  and  meet  all 
necessary  expenses  for  about  $12.50  to  $15.00  per  month. 

We  ascended  Mt.  Lycabettus  hardby  the  city  to  the 
northeast,  and  enjoyed  one  of  the  finest  landscapes  on 
earth.  Saving  her  temples,  Athens  is  as  beautiful,  per- 
haps, as  ever ;  so  are  her  blue  gulfs,  her  fields  of  wheat 
that  skirt  the   suburbs,    her   groves   of   olive  trees,  her 


253 

royal  gardens,  her  wide  well-paved  streets,  her  marble 
palaces,  her  modern  academies,  one  of  which  it  is  claim- 
ed has  the  finest  Aida  of  any  university  in  the  world. 

Athens  that  was  did  her  share  in  making  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  world  that  is,  going  in  her  mission  by  way  of 
Kome  and  Constantinople,  while  Athens  that  is,  at  last 
is  receiving  back  from  the  civilized  nations,  whom  she 
so  well  served,  the  ideas  of  commerce,  manufacturing, 
politics,  literature  and  law. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


THROUGH  THE  HELLESPONT  TO  THE 
SUBLIME  PORTE. 


We  go  from  Piraeus,  the  harbor  of  Athens,  to 
Constantinople  by  the  Itahan  line  of  steamers.  Now  an 
Italian  agent  will  always  make  a  traveller  pay  more  than 
the  legitimate  price  of  a  ticket.  On  railroads,  they  only 
collect  5  centimes  more  than  the  price  stamped  on  the 
face  of  the  ticket,  while  I  found,  after  going  aboard,  that 
I  had  paid  three  lirae  or  sixty  cents  more  than  the  price 
as  stamped  on  the  face  of  the  "billet." 

We  had  a  stormy  sea  until  we  reached  the  Dardanelles. 
I  dreamed,  the  first  night  out  from  Athens,  of  embracing 
loved  ones  at  home,  and  awoke  to  find  myself  holding 
tight  to  the  sides  of  my  berth  to  keep  from  falling  out. 
A  fellow-passenger  told  me,  next  day,  that  he  was  thrown 
from  his  (upper)  berth  to  the  floor  of  his  stateroom,  and 
considerably  bruised.  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Fowler  and 
their  only  son,  C.  H.  Fowler,  Jr.,  were  on  board  return- 
ing from  an  episcopal  tour  through  the  mission  fields  of 
their  (M.  E.)  church  in  China  and  Japan  and  on  their 
way  to  the  European  mission  conferences,  one  of  which 
at  Loftcha  in  Bulgaria,  I  hoped  to  visit,  should  time 
permit.  Being  about  the  ablest  preacher  of  his  denom- 
ination I  hoped  to  hear  him,  but  did  not.  What  limited 
time  we  were  together  I  enjoyed  recitals  of  his  experience 
as   a  christian  and  preacher.     He   enjoys  a  joke.     He 


255 

was  one  ol  the  party  when  we  visited,  on  donkeys,  the 
ruins  at  Denderah,  expressing  pity  for  the  donkey-boy, 
some  one  asked :  "  Why  don't  you  take  it  time  about 
with  him,  Bishop  ?"  He  rephed :  "  There's  a  miUion  of 
them  and  but  one  of  me." 

At  ten  o'clock  next  morning,  we  entered  the  mouth  of 
the  Dardanehes,  the  dead  line  of  nations,  and  every  foot 
of  land  to  Constantinople  has  a  thrilhng  history,  asso- 
ciated with  the  building  or  burying  of  earthly  empires. 
We  first  pass  Tenedos,  whither  Homer  says  the  Greeks 
carried  their  galleys  to  make  the  Trojans  think  they  had 
retired  from  the  siege,  and  where  they  built  the  wooden 
horse.  We  pass  near  that  field  where  nothing  but 
the  death  of  faithful  Patroclus  could  dispel  the  sullen 
gloom  of  Peleus'  son  and  kindle  his  martial  spirit  into 
that  quenchless  flame  that  made  him  the  hero  of  the 
first  and  greatest  epic.  Fine  fields,  fairly  cultivated, 
stretch  inland  from  the  Straits  and  seem  to  be  capable  of 
large  yield.  Occasionally  thin  forests  of  diminutive 
growth  adorn  the  landscape.  We  reach  the  towns  of 
Sedur-Bahr  on  the  left  and  Dardanelles  on  the  right, 
where  we  have  to  halt  and  submit  to  an  examination  by 
the  Turkish  officials  appointed  by  the  government  to 
examine  all  vessels  passing  that  way  to  Constantinople 
and  the  Black  sea.  Near  by  we  see  where  Leander  and 
Lord  Byron  swam  across,  about  three  miles,  the  latter 
taking  seventy  minutes  to  make  it.  The  distance  is  said 
to  be  three  miles,  while  the  current  carries  one  a  mile 
out  of  his  course,  making  it  necessary  to  travel  four 
miles  in  all.  Lord  Byron  and  a  fellow  traveller,  Mr^ 
Ekenhead  represented  the  current  as  strong,  the  water 
cold,  though  they  made  the  shore  without  fatigue. 
Some  doubt  whether  the  story  of  Leander  be  true,  as 


256 

lie  would  have  to  smm  eight  miles  in  going  from  Abydos 
to  Sestos  and  returning.  A  tower,  called  Leander's  tower, 
stands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bosphorus  between  Stamboul 
and  Scutari,  built  to  commemorate  this  faithful  brave 
and  devoted  lover. 

Near  Abydos,  Xerxes  had  built  his  bridge  of  boats, 
fastened  by  cables  of  papyrus,  for  the  transportation  of 
the  Asiatic  troops  to  Europe,  the  first  of  which,  by 
Mandraele.  was  carried  away  by  a  storm,  which  so 
enraged  him  that  he  murdered  the  architect. 

The  ancient  site  of  Abydos  is  now  occupied  by  a 
Turkish  town  called  Nogaw  Bauran  ;  here  Parmenio  led 
Alexander's  army  across  fi'om  Europe  to  Asia,  and  again 
the  Osmanli  Crescent  crossed  to  be  set  up  first  on 
European  soil,  by  Suleiman,  A.  D.,  1360. 

The  day  was  very  bright,  which  greatly  increased  the 
enjoyment  of  the  sail  through  waters  so  renowned, 
where  steamships  from  all  nations  pass  hourly  up  and 
down.  We  fain  would  have  driven  our  shi])  on  faster, 
that  we  might  enjoy  the  views  presented  by  the  borders 
of  both  continents,  all  the  way  to  Constantinople,  but 
night  fell  upon  us  as  we  entered  the  sea  of  Marmora  (or 
marble).  It  is  so  named  in  consequence  of  the  abundant 
supply  of  marble  quarries  along  its  coasts  and  in  its 
Islands. 

I  can  hardly  hope  to  convey  to  my  readers  even  a 
small  conception  of  the  beauty  which  the  rising  sun 
revealed  on  the  morning  of  April  loth,  as  we  came  into 
the  harbor  of  Constantinople.  For  more  than  an  hour 
i^revious  to  our  arrival  we  were  on  deck  eagerly  antici- 
pating, from  statements  made  by  those  on  board  and 
familiar  with  the  city,  somewhat  of  its  magnificence. 

In  approaching  the  city  on  the  sea  of  Marmora,  we 


257 

pass  Stephanos,  where  the  English  gunboats  stopped  the 
Russians  approaching  to  the  capture  of  the  Turkish 
capital,  in  1878,  just  too  soon.  Next  is  Makrikoi,  (pro- 
nounced Makrikeue,)  then  a  large  factory  town  to  the 
left  and  Scutari  to  the  right — all  suburbs  of  Stamboul. 
The  sea  contains  many  islands,  a  flying  visit  to  seven  of 
which  claims  one  day  of  the  hurried  tourist's  time. 

The  objects  seen  most  distinctly  at  a  distance  as  one 
approaches  are  the  minarets  of  St.  Sophia,  the  Mosque 
of  Achmed  and  the  Genoese  Tower.  These  appear  to 
be  only  a  mite  above  a  sea  of  indistinct  objects  all 
mingled  together  promiscuously — the  outlines  of  this 
world-renowned  metropolis.  As  we  approach  nearer 
and  nearer,  the  parts  of  the  mighty  emporium  stretch 
out  on  either  hand  like  wings,  and  rising  from  the  water 
terrace-like,  extend  far  inland. 

The  sea  is  divided  into  two  arms — one  of  which,  to 
the  right,  extends  twenty  miles  to  the  Black  sea  and  is 
called  the  Bosphorus;  the  other,  about  six  or  seven 
miles  long,  is  called  the  Golden  Horn.  That  part  of 
the  city  which  is  embraced  by  these  two  arms  bears  the 
double  name  of  Pera  and  Galata.  Pera  is  the  name  of 
the  upper  portion  and  Galata  the  lower.  Rue  de  Pera 
is  the  name  of  the  principal  street  of  the  city.  Galata 
is  connected  with  Stamboul  or  old  Byzantium  (of  the 
Greeks,)  by  an  American-built  iron  bridge  across  the 
Golden  Horn.  Immediately  to  the  left  is  the  old 
Seraglio  grounds. 

The  city  across  the  Bosporus  on  the  Asiatic  side  is 
called  Scutari,  the  Brooklyn  ot  Constantinople,  of  which 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  hereafter. 

Our  ship  anchors  just  below  Seraglio  Point,  surrounded 
by  a  hundred  more,  doing  business  in  these  waters  to 


258 

the  amount  of  7,000,000  tons  annually,  receiving  and 
discharging  tourists  and  cargoes  from  and  to  all  civihzed 
nations.  A  thousand  minarets,  each  surmounted  by  a 
crescent,  gleaming  in  the  sun-light,  rise  above  a  city  or 
cities  magnificent  in  extent  and  in  appearance  from  the 
deck  of  our  steamer,  and  in  power,  also,  if  we  judge  by 
the  length  of  time  they  have  dominated  these  seas  and 
shores,  or  by  the  dozen  idle  ironclads  at  rest  in  the 
Golden  Horn,  ready  at  short  notice  to  sail  in  the  national 
defence  or  to  the  conquest  of  any  undefended  nation 
whose  tribute  would  be  worth  the  cost  of  war. 

Many  are  the  factors  that  enter  into  the  Eastern  ques- 
tion, if  it  be  any  question,  not  the  least  of  which  perhaps 
is  the  providence  that  retains  the  dominancv  of  the 
"ever  sick,  but  never  dying  man  of  the  East,"  because 
his  neighbors  show  no  more  readiness  to  uplift  the 
masses  than  himself. 


Illlist. 


w 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


IN  AND  ABO UT  STAMB 0 UL 


When  I  reached  Cook's  office,  on  the  Rue  de  Pera, 
where  good  mail  matter  was  in  waiting,  I  met  again  Dr. 
Oreen,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  Mr.  Dogget,  of  Winooski, 
Vt.,  whom  I  had  seen  in  Jerusalem.  We  took  a  car- 
riage, and  George  Thomas  for  a  guide.  We  went  first 
to  the  Genoese  Tower,  built  by  the  Italians  when  tliey 
were  in  possession  centuries  ago.  It  is  on  a  hill  in  Ga- 
lata,  near  to  the  British  Post  Office.  It  is  a  circular 
wall  about  twelve  feet  thick,  if  I  remember  correctly, 
and  about  fifty  feet  in  diameter.  One  ascends  by  stone 
steps  in  the  w'all  about  two  hundred  feet,  wdience  the 
view  is  very  fine.  We  next  cross  the  Golden  Horn,  pass 
Pnblique  Dette — the  Government  School  for  Priests — into 
the  Seraglio  grounds,  go  through  the  Museum  of  Anti- 
quities, see  one  fine  piece  of  Statuary— Andreanus,  the 
Greek  victor — Cyprian  pottery  and  Assyrian  Antiquities, 
drive  as  near  the  Sublime  Po^te  (that  is,  the  lofty  gate 
of  the  Seraglio,  from  which  the  name  is  given  to  the 
Sultan's  realms)  as  they  will  allow,  which  is  not  near 
enough  to  pass  through  it,  as  we  have  no  firman.  In 
the  grounds  stands  the  largest  tree  I  ever  saw.  It  is  a 
sycamore.  We  go  hence  to  St.  Sophia.  It  costs  us  two 
shillings  each  to  enter  and  two  piasters  each  for  sandals 
to  wear  while  within.  Rugs  and  carpets  of  matting 
covered  the  floor,  and  a  few  Turks  were  2)raying,  while 


261   , 

others  were  hiughing  and  talkiiig.  St  Sophia  was  built 
for  a  Christian  churchy  and  the  builder,  when  it  was 
completed,  was  so  elated  at  its  magnificent  appearance 
that  he  said:  "Solomon.  I  have  surpassed  thee  !"  Some 
of  the  material  was  brought  ft'om  Ephesus  and  other 
cities,  and  no  doubt  this  was  among  the  finest  structures 
in  existence  when  first  built,  as  it  is  still. 

We  go  to  the  Hippodrome,  which  contains  an  Egyp- 
tian Obelisk,  Constantine's  Tower,  and  the  three  brazen 
serpents,  ten  feet  high  and  thirteen  inches  in  diameter, 
which  once  "formed  the  interior  of  the  Tripod  of  Del- 
phos;"  they  are  twisted  together  and  have  all  been  be- 
headed, the  first  one  by  Mahomet  (not  the  prophet) 
when  he  took  the  city.  We  saw  one  of  these  heads  in 
the  museum.  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  antiquities  in 
existence,  and  speaks  of  the  days  when  the  Greeks 
looked  towards  Delphi  as  the  Moslems  do  towards 
Mecca. 

The  Museum  of  the  Janizaries  next  claims  our  atten- 
tion ;  they  were  a  mighty  factor  in  the  completion  of  the 
subjugation  of  tlie  Byzantine  empire.  One  sees  the 
dress  and  armor  used  by  each  officer  and  servant.  Their 
number  was  only  1,000  at  first,  chosen  from  among  the 
Greeks  as  a  body-guard  to  the  Sultan,  kept  in  position 
and  faithful  by  receiving  the  spoils  of  war,  they  were 
increased  to  40,000  and  became  a  terror  to  Christendom 
in  the  East. 

The  Reservoir  of  1001  columns  is  a  wonderful  struc- 
ture ;  it  contained  three  stories,  each  supported  by  224 
pillars,  making  672  in  all.  Why  it  was  called  reservoir 
of  1001  columns  I  do  not  know.  Two  of  these  stories 
are  now  filled  up  ;  the  third,  about  25  feet  underground, 
is  used  to  spin  silk  in.     When  used  for  water  it  contain- 


.  262 

•ed  1,0(X),000  cubic  feet,  though  that  of  St.  Peter  was  six 
times  as  large.  When  we  emerged  from  it  a  rough  Turk 
who  had  seen  us  enter  or  who  had  been  called  by  our 
guide,  w^as  on  hand  to  receive  backsheesh  for  so  great  and 
important  a  privilege  as  we  had  enjoyed. 

We  next  visited  Seraskierat,  which  contains  the  offices 
of  the  War  Department,  and  the  City  Tower,  which  we 
did  not  ascend.  Hard  by  is  the  Pigeon  mosque,  the 
court  yard  of  which  is  darkened  by  thousands  of  pigeons 
daily.  When  a  Turk  is  sick  or  in  perils  by  the  sea,  he 
vows  to  Allah  to  go  and  feed  the  pigeons,  if  he  but 
obtain  deliverance;  hence  one  can  always  see  these 
Mussulmen  fulfilling  their  vows  much  to  the  gratification 
of  the  pigeons. 

Although  we  had  engaged  the  carriage  for  the  day, 
our  coachman  wanted  his  pay  and  to  postpone  till  to- 
morrow the  seeing  of  the  Seven  Towers  and  Palace  of 
the  Sultan's  headquarters.  After  parleying  over  it  for 
a  long  time  we  conquered  and  rode  through  the  entire 
city  of  Old  Stamboul,  and  back  by  the  barracks  of  his 
majesty's  troops  and  Topari  or  Artillery  Mosque  and 
Mosque  of  the  Sultan,  called  also  Yildik  or  Star.  The 
interior  of  this  is  very  imposing.  The  Sultan  worships 
Tiere  once  a  week,  on  Friday.  It  is  near  to  the  Royal 
residence  and  surrounded  by  most  splendid  gardens,  far 
up  on  the  heights  back  of  the  city.  Returning  we  stop- 
ped at  the  Bible  house,  and  met  Mr.  Bliss,  son  of  Dr. 
Bliss,  whom  we  met  in  Egypt.  He  is  the  efficient  young 
-Secretary.  Dr.  Buckley  learned  from  him  that  one  could 
buy  the  air  above  residences,  whereby  the  owner  was 
prevented  from  building  his  dwelling  any  higher. 

I  was  told  that  the  Bibles  they  distributed  are  often 
torn  to  pieces  by  fanatical  Turks;  but  a  Mohammedan 


263, 

will  never  destroy  a  paper  with  the  name  of  God  on  it, 
if  he  knows  it ;  on  the  contrary,  they  will  pick  up  and 
preserve  every  piece,  however  filthy,  which  contains  that 
holy  name.  They  cram  these  pieces  into  crevices  be- 
tween rocks  or  where  the  name  will  be  preserved  from 
further  abuse.  I  heard  a  story  of  one  thus  preserving 
such  a  piece  of  Scripture  in  Jerusalem  and  had  curiosi- 
ty enough  to  read  what  was  said  about  God,  and  was 
by  it  led  to  embrace  Christianity.  Nothing  I  have  ever 
witnessed  surpasses  in  sincerity  and  I  may  say  solemni- 
ty, a  Moslem  at  prayer,  yet  with  all  that  it  is  not  at  all 
certain  that  he  has  any  principle. 

IN    ASIA   MINOR    AGAIN. 

April  the  16th  was  set  apart  by  us  to  visit  Scutari,  the 
Mohammedan  and  English  Cemeteries,  and  Boulgour- 
loo,  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Bosphorus.  The  steam 
ferry-boats  start  from  the  bridge  that  spans  the  Golden 
Horn,  and  are  capable  of  carrying  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  passengers  each,  and  they  run  abount  every 
fifteen  minutes  through  the  day.  One  man  sells  you  a 
ticket,  another  punches  it  and  a  third  collects.  The 
boat  is  divided  into  two  decks,  first  and  second  class, 
each  of  which  is  divided  into  two  compartments — one 
for  gentlemen,  one  for  ladies  ;  also  on  each  side  of  the 
lower  deck  a  room  is  cut  off  and  labelled  in  English 
and  Arabic,  "Harem  reserve."  A  man  may  take  his 
wives  in  if  it  be  unoccupied  ;  if  it  be  occupied,  he  is 
separated  from  them  on  the  trip.  I  thought  once,  at 
Bebek,  I  should  fail  to  get  aboard  at  all,  being  met  and 
stopped  at  every  effort.  I  found  that,  without  knowing 
it,  I  was  trying  to  pass  through   a  gate  where  only  fe- 


264 

males  could  pass.     ''One  must  do  in  Turkey  as  Turks 
do." 

Landing  in  Scutari  we  took  a  carriage  for  the  Moham- 
medan Cemetery — one  of  the  largest  in  the  world,  cov- 
ering several  square  miles,  and  the  tombs  are  crowded 
about  as  near  together  as  they  can  be.  Every  grave  was 
marked  by  a  marble  slab,  or,  I  should  rather  say,  post 
or  column,  for  they  were  narrow  and  thick,  often  eight 
feet  high,  each  having  a  head  with  a  peculiar  head- 
dress or  turban  worn  by  deceased  during  his  Hfe. 

One  is  shown  a  canopy  supported  by  six  marble 
columns,  beneath  which  is  buried  the  favorite  horse 
of  Sultan  Mohammed.  Above  all  these  wave  tall  and 
graceful  cypresses,  emblems  of  mourning. 

Passing  this,  we  soon  reach  the  English  Cemetery  to 
the  right.  Not  only  the  English  sailors  and  inhabitants 
who  die  here  are  brought  here  for  interment,  but  those 
of  the  English  troops  who  fell  in  the  Crimean  war,  sleep 
here  also ;  and  a  granite  shaft,  forty  or  fifty  feet  high, 
stands  in  the  midst  of  the  grounds,  raised  in  honor  of 
England's  fallen  braves.  It  is  approached  frnn  several 
sides  by  gravel  walks,  either  shaded  or  bordered  by 
several  species  of  evergreens.  Just  outside  is  the  hos- 
pital where  is  still  shown  the  room  and  furniture  of 
Miss  Nightingale,  who  devoted  her  talents  to  the  allevi- 
ation of  human  suffering. 

About  six  miles  from  the  landing  at  Scutari,  we  reach 
Boulgourloo,  passing,  on  the  way,  several  pretty  towns 
and  a  few  of  the  Sultan's  summer  palaces,  for  he  has  a 
great  number  of  them.  Boulgourloo  is  a  high  hill, 
covered  with  grass,  sloping  rapidly  in  all  directions ;  it 
is  one  of  the  hills  on  which  beacon  fires  were  lighted 
from  Tarsus  to  B3'zantium  before  the  electric  telegraph. 


265 

From  it  the  Emperors  used  to  start  to  Asia  on  their 
hunting  expeditions.  The  hill  is  several  hundred  feet 
high,  and  the  forests  having  perished  centuries  since, 
one  can  see  for  a  hundred  miles  over  the  sea  of  Marmora, 
studded  with  islands,  and  Kadi  Koi,  the  site  of  Chalce- 
don  of  old,  birth  place  of  Zenocrates,  and  seat  of  the 
fourth  general  council,  A.  D.  451,  which  condemned 
the  Monophysites ;  it  was  the  starting  point  of  gen- 
erals, in  olden  times,  to  Persia  and  the  East.  It  is 
more  ancient  than  Byzantium  (Constantinople).  We 
see  many  miles  over  hills  and  plains  towards  the  inte- 
rior of  Asia.  On  the  other  side  the  Bosphorus,  adorn- 
ed by  a  dozen  towns,  comes,  by  the  aid  of  our  glass- 
es, within  easy  eye-shot.  What  shall  I  say  of  Con- 
stantinople, with  her  suburbs  far  enough  away  to  lose 
all  her  objectionable  aspects,  and  near  enough  to  pre- 
sent her  hundreds  of  mosques,  palaces  and  public  build- 
ings, with  the  ships  of  all  nations  ever  coming  and  going! 
Truly  she  sits  a  queen,  and  the  most  favorably  located 
of  any  city  in  the  world  perhaps,  if  she  only  had  a  good 
citizenship,  of  progressive  men  in  her  back  countries. 

We  very  fortunately  happened  on  this  side  on  the 
most  favorable  day  of  the  year ;  it  is  fifteen  days  until 
Ramazan,  and  the  day  the  camels  start  to  Mecca  with 
the  national  offerings.  They  start  from  the  Mosque  of 
Achmed  the  first,  and  are  taken  thence  to  a  boat.  The 
boat  brings  them  to  Scutari,  and  two  huge  Bactrian 
camels,  decorated  with  silk  into  which  threads  of  gold 
and  silver  are  woven  and  ostrich  feathers  until  they 
are  nearly  covered  ujd.  wait  to  receive  the  presents; 
really  the  camels  are  meant  for  priests  or  dignitaries  to 
ride  upon,  i\^hile  thirty  or  forty  mules  are  laden  with 
two  or  three  boxes  and  trunks  apiece  and   the  camels 


266 

support  large  canopies  that  pitch  forward  at  one  step 
and  backward  at  the  next,  as  if  they  meant  not  to  stay 
in  position  to  grace  the  procession. 

Thousands  of  people  had  gathered  to  witness  the  re- 
ligious/e^e  ;  allthe  piazzas  and  windows  were  full  of  ex- 
cited spectators  ;  about  a  hundred  cavalry  were  on  hand 
to  keep  the  peace  and  guard  the  sacred  treasures.  The 
street  that  led  down  to  the  landing  was  so  crowded  that, 
fearing  lest  at  the  critical  moment  we  should  fail  to  be 
in  a  favorable  j^osition  for  seeing,  we  took  a  shop-keep- 
ers bench  and  stood  upon  it;  but  when  the  cavalry 
formed  in  line  we  were  only  about  four  feet  in  their  rear, 
and  the  very  horse  that  was  in  front  ol  us  became  very 
restless,  ran  backward  into  our  party,  hurting  several 
persons  and  upsetting  our  bench,  almost  breaking  a 
boy's  leg.  While  all  this  pageant  was  passing  I  had 
serious  misgivings  lest  the  fanaticism  of  these  Turks 
should  suggest  something  disastrous  to  us  Christians,  so 
few,  and  safeguards  so  far  away,  nor  did  I  feel  perfectly 
at  ease  until  the  crowd  dis23ersed. 

At  two  o'clock  the  booming  of  cannon  informed  us 
that  the  freight  had  started,  and  in  a  few  moments  it 
was  landed,  reloaded  and  hurried  away.  While  it  w  s 
being  brought  ashore  there  was  a  mock  gladiatorial  con- 
test. 

The  Ramazan  is  the  Moslem  Lent  and  lasts  four  weeks. 
During  that  time  they  neither  eat,  drink,  nor  smoke 
from  sun-up  until  sun-down ;  the  first  thing  after  sun- 
down is  to  smoke  ;  this  they  will  do  for  an  hour  often, 
after  which  they  eat.  The  camels  start  to  Mecca  two 
weeks  before,  so  that  the  offerings  may  be  on  hand  at 
the  opening  of  Ramazan.  We  recrossed  to  the  European 
side,  made  an  excursion  up  the  Golden  Horn  to  the 
Sweet  Waters,  passing  the  magnificent  red  stone  College 
of  the  Greek  church,  and  completed  the  day. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


CONSTANTINOPLE  AND  THE  TURKS. 


Wednesday,  April  17th,  was  our  last  day  in  Constan- 
tinople. We  went  up  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Black  Sea, 
by  the  route  which  Jason  went  in  search  of  the  "Gol- 
den Fleece."  The  coast  on  either  hand  was  lined  with 
towns  nearly  all  the  way  up.  Ours  was  a  mail  steamer, 
and  it  was  curious  to  see  them  deliver  the  mail  and 
tickets.  The  former  was  carried  in  square  boxes,  locked 
with  a  hasp,  staple  and  padlock.  At  every  station  the 
Captain  would  have  the  tickets  tied  up  in  a  little  bag 
about  such  as  we  have  seen  boys  carry  their  marbles  in, 
into  which  a  stone  weighing  four  or  five  ounces  was 
dropped.  This  would  carry  momentum  sufficient  to 
land  it,  while  he  received  a  like  wallet  from  each  station, 
to  be  carried  on,  tossed  ab  jard  often  after  the  boat  was 
under  headway.  Failing  to  carry  lunch  I  had  to  buy 
some  bread,  which  gave  me  an  idea  I  should  else  have 
missed.  As  I  could  not  speak  Turkish,  and  being  alone 
(for  my  companions  returned  to  the  city,  while  I  got  off 
at  Bebek  to  see  our  American  College,)  I  stood  near  by 
the  bread  vender  until  I  saw  him  sell  a  ring  of  it  about 
as  large  as  the  ring  used  on  a  trapeze,  say  six  inches  in 
diameter,  then  I  knew  the  price  and  bought  myself, 
taking  the  bread  and  laying  down  two  metterlichs.  The 
idea  I  caught  was  the  benefit  of  seeds  sprinkled  on  the 
bread  while  cooking.     I  do  not  know  the  name  of  the 


268 

seeds ;  they  were  about  as  large  as  cloverseed,  and  pos- 
sessed a  strong  and  very  pleasant  flavor.  They  also 
possessed  an  oily  property,  which  made  the  bread  more 
nourishing. 

The  college  is  about  twenty  minutes  walk  from  the 
landing,  and  is  reached  by  walking  up  a  very  precipit- 
ous hill  overlooking  the  Bosphorus.  The  walk-way, 
however,  is  well  graded  and  passes  under  that  famous 
wall  built  by  Mohammed  II  in  three  months,  each 
workman  doing  more  each  day  than  had  ever  been  done 
by  one  man  in  a  day  before  or  since.  It  was  built  in 
the  shape  of  the  Arabic  letters  which  spell  Mohammed's 
name,  and  as  a  rallying  point  from  which  to  take  Con- 
stantinople and  destroy  the  Byzantine  empire.  I  have 
seen  no  prettier  location  anywhere  than  Robert  College 
enjoys.  It  overlooks  nearly  the  entire  length  of  the 
Bosphorus  and  far  into  Asia  Minor  beyond,  whose  bosom 
is  covered  with  pretty  towns  and  prosperous  farm-hou- 
ses in  the  midst  of  the  green  fields. 

It  is  surrounded  by  a  stone  wall  and  a  great  variety 
of  trees  and  shrubbery.  The  building  is  of  stone  and  is 
large,  commodious  and  well  arranged ;  a  four-story  house, 
built  around  an  open  court,  from  which  the  ascent  is 
made  to  the  upper  stories.  After  looking  at  the  grounds 
and  buildings  sufficiently  from  without,  I  called  on  Dr. 
Washburn,  the  President ;  while  waiting  for  him,  an 
indelible  impression  was  made  upon  my  mind  to  the 
effect  that  the  officers  were  very  busy  and  the  students 
equally  as  idle.  Dr.  Washburn  I  found  to  be  a  very 
polite,  communicative  gentleman.  The  students  of  the 
college  were  from  Servia,  Bulgaria,  Austria  and  several 
other  nationalities  are  represented  including  Jews,  being 
either  Greek  or  Catholic  christians,  instead  of  Turkish 


269 

boys,  only  one  or  two  of  which,  I  believe,  are  in  the 
college.  The  college  is  a  power  for  good,  though  inferior 
to  that  of  Beirut.  The  other  high  schools  of  Constan- 
tinople are  said  to  be  atheistic,  which  fact  gains  a 
sympathy  otherwise  denied  this  Protestant  Christian 
college.  They  have  one  hundred  and  seventy  boys  en- 
rolled. An  orator  alluding  to  its  proximity  to  Mahomet 
Second's  wall  and  towers,  said :  "It  stands  on  higher 
ground  than  those  towers.  It  dominates  them.  Its 
forces  are  spiritual  and  eternal.  It  shall  see  them  pass 
away."  This  prophecy  will  doubtless  be  fulfilled.  They 
were  seven  years  securing  a  title  to  the  property  after  it 
was  purchased ;  such  is  the  Turkish  way  of  doing  busi- 
ness and  his  fear  of  the  Russ  and  Frank. 

To-day  is  the  Sultan's  birthday ;  the  masts  of  every 
Turkish  craft  are  ornamented  with  streamers  ;  the  fronts 
of  gardens  and  yards  have  lattice-work  made  of  flowers 
and  tinted  paper  woven  into  fanciful  shapes;  the  branch- 
es of  trees  are  hung  full  of  bottles.  The  streets  are 
crossed  with  ropes  and  twine  woven  into  webs  at  places, 
all  strung  with  candles  and  Chinese  lanterns  to  be  light- 
ed at  night.  At  12  o'clock  m.  twenty-one  rounds  of 
cannon  are  fired. 

Constantinople,  a  magnificent  city,  is  at  her  best,  doing 
honor  to  her  ruler.  Everybody  seems  to  take  pleasure 
in  the  occasion ;  though  the  Sultan  is  as  much  afraid  of 
dynamite  as  the  Czar  of  Russia. 

At  night  the  city,  with  all  her  suburbs,  is  illuminated? 
every  one  of  her  thousand  minarets  is  blazing,  and  they 
look  together  like  all  the  constellations  of  the  skies  had 
clustered  just  over  the  happy  capitol.  The  Sultan's 
palace,  just  above  Yildik,  seemed  from  Galata  across  the 
Golden  Horn,  to  be  of  crystal  and  illuminated  with  a 


270 

hundred  electric  lights  ;  and  hundreds  of  inferior  pal- 
aces, with  mosques  and  military  stations,  far  up  on  the 
heights  in  the  suburbs,  and  private  dwellings,  all  \ded 
with  each  other  in  an  effort  to  honor  the  Ottoman 
monarch. 

No  doubt  thousands  of  barrels  of  kerosene  were  con- 
sumed, and  the  fall  moon  lent  all  her  mellow  radiance 
to  enhance  the  witchery  of  the  scene.  I  stood  for  more 
than  an  hour  beneath  a  spell,  as  it  were.  Pera,  through 
which  runs  the  Strand,  or  Broadway,  and  the  city  on 
both  sides  the  Bosphorus,  are  behind  me  and  out  of 
sight;  but  Stamboul,  rising  terrace-like  beyond  the 
Golden  Horn,  is  reflected  from  its  trembling  face,  which 
almost  doubled  the  grandeur,  already  everwhelming.  I 
had  never  seen  anything  of  the  kind  so  splendid  before; 
I  do  not  expect  to  see  it  again  on  earth.  Great  is  the 
power  of  a  man  or  a  system  thatswiys  millions  of  loyal 
souls,  even  though  they  be  semi-heathens. 

This  ovation  not  only  marks  the  high  place  the  Sultan 
Abdul  Hamid  II  holds  in  his  subjects'  esteem,  but 
shDws  him  entitled  to  be  placed  beside  earth's  poten- 
tates. 

Again,  we  thought  of  the  waste  of  labor  and  material, 
so  much  needed  by  the  ignorant  children  of  this  pon- 
derous empire,  and  asked  the  question,  why  all  this 
waste  upon  one  poor,  perishing  polygamist,  who  feels 
to  be  jeopardizing  his  life  every  time  he  goes  out?  And 
the  answer  comes  back,  for  the  sake  of  these  same  poor, 
needy  wretches,  w^ho  will  not  rest  content  without  such 
remote,  pampered,  haughty,  aristocratic  masters.  Of 
course  oppression  abounds,  but  this  evil  is  less  than 
those  which  arise  from  a  consciousness  of  irresponsible 
freedom  among  a  people  incapable  of  self-government. 


271 

Give  such  a  people  pageants,  illuminations,  parades,, 
sensuality  and  mystery  about  religion  ;  make  Cathedrals 
dark  ;  read  or  sing  prayers  in  an  unknown  tongue ;  ex- 
communicate for  reading  scriptures  and  knowing  truth, 
and  it  is  no  surprise  to  find  anomaly  in  moral,  social 
and  political  matters,  such  as  a  celibate  priesthood  on 
the  one  hand  and  a  polygamous  one  on  the  other,  re- 
sulting in  scepticism  and  nihilism. 

Time  would  fail  to  tell  of  all  the  strange  experiences 
of  a  traveller  here,  or  the  interesting  objects  on  every 
hand,  or  the  habits  or  religion  of  the  Turks.  The  facts 
that  they  do  abstain  from  wine,  do  observe  the  rite  of 
circumcision,  do  fast  during  Ramazan,  show  them  capa- 
ble of  becoming  exemplary  christians.  But  they  are  cruel 
in  the  treatment  of  their  wives,  making  them  do  almost 
all  the  work,  consider  the  birth  of  girls  a  curse,  and 
make  them  begin  to  wear  veils  at  eleven  or  twleve  years 

of  age. 

If  a  man  wishes  a  wife  he  must  speak  to  his  father  to 
secure  one  for  him  ;  if  he  hkes  her  he  keeps  her,  if  not, 
he  returns  her  to  her  iatlier  ;  and  if  he  be  able  to  sup- 
port two  he  gets  his  father  to  look  him  up  another.  No 
courting  among  the  Arabs.  *♦ 

Their  salutations  are  unsurpassed  by  any  people  for 
grace  and  significance.  An  Arab  meeting  or  parting 
with  a  friend  will  raise  his  right  hand  to  his  forehead, 
drop  it  to  his  lips,  then  to  his  breast,  which  means,  I 
revere  you  with  my  mind,  speak  well  of  you  with  my 
lips,  and  give  you  a  place  in  my  heart.  One  might  go 
far  to  find  more  delicate  politeness.  On  parting  the 
first  says :  Yallah  salaam!  May  you  go  in  peace.  The 
other  responds :  Salaam,  i.  e.,  peace.  The  ordinary  salu- 
tation is.  En  harak  sa'id,  i.  e.,  "  May  you  have  a  rich 


272 

day."  The  response  is  equivalent  but  the  words  differ- 
ent, and  is :  En  harak  mabarak  !  If  an  Arab  wishes  to 
carry  a  point  he  will  stoop  to  conquer ;  he  will  kiss  your 
hand  repeatedly,  lay  the  back  of  it  against  his  forehead, 
on  the  top  of  his  head,  and  kiss  it  again. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  Turk  as  follows  :  A  neighbor 
wished  to  borrow  his  donkey  and  was  told  the  animal 
was  not  at  home ;  pretty  soon  the  animal  brayed,  said 
the  neighbor :  "There,  he  is  at  home."  "  I  won't  lend 
anything,"  said  the  Turk,  "  to  a  man  who  believes  a 
donkey's  voice  in  preference  to  mine!" 

If  you  approach  a  female  unveiled,  who  usually  keeps 
her  face  veiled,  she  will  either  pull  the  veil  over  her  face, 
and  hold  it  in  her  mouth  or  turn  her  head  till  you  pass. 

Often  in  the  warmer  climates  of  Egypt  and  Palestine 
the  males  and  females  seem  to  be  dressed  alike,  look- 
ing at  them  from  the  rear  ;  a  tunic  or  something  like  a 
sheet  of  white  cloth  is  worn  over  the  whole  body,  head 
and  all;  the  men  often  wear  clothes  like  an  American, 
often  a  skirt  which  fastens  to  each  leg  below  the  knee 
and  a  coat  about  his  body.  The  women  have  a  great 
variety  of  dress,  including  trousers.  Mothers  of  the  poor 
learn  th^r  children  to  say  backsheesh  before  they  learn  to 
say  mother.  I  have  seen  them  send  babies  out  to  meet 
us  not  three  years  old,  who  understood  their  business. 
They  will  come  out,  babe  in  hand,  point  to  it  and  say 
"he"  or  "  she  christian,  6ac^*s/t(?es/i,  Howadji!" 

A  lady  told  me  that  while  at  Marsaba,  in  Palestine, 
she  ordered  a  donkey  boy  to  wash  out  the  kyathos  and 
bring  her  a  nice  drink  of  water;  he  put  some  water  in 
the  vessel,  went  up  to  a  donkey,  thrust  the  end  of  the 
donkey's  tail  into  the  kyathos  and  mopped  it  out  and 
brought  her  a  nice  drink  of  water  !     Using   him    as  a 


273 


€up-towel !     Very  convenient  that ;  it  can  be  hung  out 
to  dry  and  preserved  for  future  use. 

While  there  are  about  1,000,000  inhabitants  in  Con- 
stantinople our  guide  said  there  were  1,500,000  dogs.  I 
I  have  counted  eight  in  one  pile,  sleeping  like  hogs. 
These  are  nearly  all  of  the  same  species,  a  kind  of  cross 
between  the  cur  and  Shepherd  dog.  They  are  relig- 
iously scrupulous  about  the  treatment  of  canines.  Every 
man  fee  s  the  dogs  in  front  of  his  door,  though  he  lays 
no  claim  to  them  ;  he  will  also  defend  them  when  en- 
dangered. The  dogs  of  one  street  or  section  live  in  har- 
mony among  themselves,  but  will  not  tolerate  strange 
dogs ;  they  unite  to  ostracise  any  visitor ;  all  seem  to 
understand  the  proper  boundaries  of  their  real  estate 
and  allow  no  trespassing.  Friday  is  Moslem  Sabbath 
and  on  that  day  they  publicly  feed  dogs. 

The  Mahometans  are  fatalists.  When  misfortunes 
overtake  them  they  say.  Kismet  Diir— It  is  fate.  They 
do  not  think  the  trouble  could  have  been  averted  by 
any  effort  of  theirs. 

Oriental  cities  are  generally  built  in  a  very  compact 
manner  because  it  is  more  economical  and  affords  greater 
defense  in  time  of  war,  few  of  the  streets  are  broad 
enough  for  vehicles  to  pass,  they  are  often  built  on  hill- 
sides, also,  because  of  the  better  defense  thus  secured. 
So  that  instead  of  the  carts  and  drays  used  in  Occiden- 
tal cities,  men  carry  the  baggage  and  freight  from 
wharves  to  stores  and  warehouses.  A  thick  pad  is 
fastened  over  the  shoulders  falling  down  below  the 
hips,  a  box  of  merchandise  often  weighing  three  or  four 
hundred  pounds  rests  on  this  while  the  man  goes  in  a 
stooping  attitude,  a  long  rope  reaches  around  the  bur- 
den  behind   and   around   the  bearer's   forehead.     The 


274 

limbs  of  these  human  freight  cars  are  generally  bare, 
and  evidence  the  greatest  possible  muscular  develop- 
ment. 

The}'  say  that  Satan,  "  Stoned  Devil,"  against  whom 
they  pray  five  times  daily,  is  the  genius  that  inspires 
all  mechanical  wisdom. 

They  punish  apostasy  with  death,  unless  the  apostate 
recant  at  once.  When  Moliammed  began  his  brilHant 
career,  he  told  his  followers  the  world  was  divided  into 
two  parts,  viz :  Dar  ul  Islam  and  Dar  ul  Harb — that  is. 
House  of  Islam  and  House  of  War.  "  House  of  War," 
said  he,  "  is  for  God.  God  gives  it  to  you."  What  such 
a  motto  and  its  inspiration  wrought,  Christendom  knows 
but  too  well.  He  j^redicted  the  capture  of  Constantinople 
700  or  800  years  before  it  was  done.  It  was  not  Mo- 
hammed's purpose  to  destroy  Christians  and  Jews.  He 
called  them  Kitablees,  or  people  with  a  Book,  meaning 
the  Bible — his  system  being  a  degenerate  Judaism 
grafted  to  Arabic  habits.  His  followers,  however,  did 
not  adhere  to  this  part  of  the  j^lan.  Jerusalem  was  the 
first  city  that  fell  into  their  hands,  and  Charlemagne,  to 
whom  the  Kalif  sent  the  keys  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
secured  from  them  safety  for  Frank  merchants  in  Syria 
and  Egypt. 

Dr.  Menzies'  Turkey^  Old  and  Neiv,  says : 

"Mussulman  conquest  is  rapid  and  splendid  and  followed  by 
precarious  and  incurable  decadence." 

The  Turks  had  a  standing  army  when  such  a  thing 
was  unknown  in  Europe.  But  Europe  was  laying  broad 
and  deep  the  foundations  for  mightier  conquests  than 
the  "gorgeous  East"  had  ever  known,  or  could  ever 
attain,  until  they  too  should  follow  the  ways  of  the 
western  world. 


275 

The  following  is  a  summarized  estimate  of  the  Turks 
b}^  one  who  travelled  throughout  the  Ottoman  Empire, 

"  They  are  hospitable,  charitable  generally,  sometimes  gener- 
ous; the  lower  classes  are  honest,  their  greatest  merit;  not  so  with 
the  upper  classes ;  but  one  may  rely  on  their  solemn  promise. 
They  are  ignorant,  presumptuous,  vain  and  bigoted,  proud  with- 
out any  feeling  of  honor,  and  cringing  without  humility,  cannot 
resist  money  or  the  prospective  benefit  of  a  lie. 

In  Government  and  administrative  duties  they  are  tyrannical 
and  overbearing,  in  religion  dogmatic  and  intolerant,  in  fiscal 
measures  mercenary  and  arbitrary,  and  ignorant  of  their  own 
history  as  they  are  of  others.  The  higher  classes  are  inferior  in 
character,  probity  and  honor  to  the  lower.  Their  virtue  is  that 
of  the  Savage,  who  is  generous  because  nature  supplies  his 
wants,  and  charitable  because  of  the  uncertain  tenure  by  which 
he  holds  his  goods;  poor  and  removed  from  temptation  he  is 
honest,  but  entrusted  with  office  he  becomes  a  thief.  He  plun- 
ders the  poor  and  propitiates  the  rich  by  bribes,  hence  offices 
are  sold  to  the  highest  bidder." 

Constantinople  is  the  headquarters  for  such  missionary 
work  as  is  carried  on  in  Turkish  territory.  Our  Consul 
there  is  a  Jew,  and  secures  for  our  Missions  more 
clemency  than  his  Christian  predecessor,  so  I  was 
informed  at  Bierut.  He  put  the  Missions  on  the  same 
basis  as  all  other  American  enterprises.  Dr.  Hamlin, 
founder  of  Robert  College,  relates  an  experience  which 
illustrates  the  power  of  Christianity  even  among  Mussul- 
men.  While  superintending  a  bakery  that  supplied  the 
English  army  with  bread,  he  bought  on  thirty  days 
time,  ten  thousand  dollars  worth  of  flour  from  a  Turkish 
merchant,  on  his  credit  as  a  Christian  Missionary.  I 
visited  the  Sailors'  bethel  here  and  was  present  at  one 
service,  and  had  a  gracious  season  of  prayer  with  a 
sailor  who  had  not  walked  for  several  weeks,  on  account 
of  rheumatism,  and  was  glad  to  hear  that  he  came  down 
stairs  the  next  day. 

As  I  looked  at  this  degraded  people,  I  was  saddened 


276 

iDeyond  expression;  they  looked  like  sheep,  having 
no  shepherd.  I  often  longed  for  a  voice  that  they 
■could  understand,  that  I  might  tell  them  good  news, 
and  that  the  christian  church  could  but  catch  as  a 
watchword  Mahomet's  own,  "  This  part  is  God's,  God 
gives  it  to  you,"  and  give  and  go  and  continue  giving 
and  going  until  the  mighty  work  of  preaching  the 
gospel  to  every  creature  is  done. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


THROUGH  ROUMANIA,  BULGARIA,  SERVIA^ 
HUNGARY  AND  AUSTRIA. 


At  9  o'clock,  p.  M.,  I  left  Constantinople  for  Vienna.. 
After  buying  my  ticket  I  was  seized  by  two  burly  Turks 
unable  to  speak  English  more  than  to  say  "jjas-s^-por^." 
Now,  a  pass-port  is  seldom  required  on  entering  Turk- 
ish dominions,  but  always  on  leaving,  so  I  had  secured 
a  Teskereh  (Turkish  pass-port)  for  Constantinople ;  just 
such  a  one  as  even  a  Turk  would  have  been  required  to 
have  if  visiting  there  from  some  other  place,  but  I  had 
not  had  my  American  pass-port  vised,  i.  e.,  passed  through 
the  hands  of  a  Turkish  Consul  and  had  his  permission 
to  travel  in  Turkey  written  on  it.  So  I  produced  my 
Teskereh ;  they  read  it,  handed  it  back,  and  demanded : 
"Passe-port."  Now,  if  I  had  given  them  my  American 
pass-port,  not  vised,  they  would  have  fined  me  two  or 
three  dollars  and  detained  me,  perhaps,  as  many  days. 
So  I  did  not  produce  that,  but  handed  back  the  Teskereh 
again,  which  they  refused,  saying:  "Passe-port,"  "passe- 
port."  Not  producing  the  other,  one  of  them  snatched 
the  Teskereh  out  of  my  hand,  which  I  snatched  back  as 
quickly,  and  turned  and  walked  away.  I  had  learned 
the  tricks  of  Turks  during  two  months  in  Egypt,  Pales- 
tine and  Syria,  and  knew  they  were  only  after  back- 
sheesh. Had  I  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  ruffians  on 
entering  their  country  for  the  first  time,  I  would  have 


had  to  pay  out  and  been  detained  several  days  besides. 
When  the  train  rolled  off  I  felt  a  burden  roll  off  with 
it.  One  is  ever  ill  at  ease  for  fear  these  Arabs  will  prac- 
tice some  new,  successful  trick  upon  him.  There  is  no 
trouble  to  one  using  Cook's  or  Gaze's  tickets,  but  some- 
times I  traveled  without  them — did  not  have  one  then. 

The  distance  from  Constantinoj^le  to  Vienna  is  one 
thousand  and  fifty  miles,  the  time  forty-seven  hours.  I 
left  the  brilliantly  illuminated  city  at  nine  o'clock,  p.  m. 
Two  or  three  young  Germans  got  on  the  same  car,  and 
I  made  an  effort  to  get  into  the  same  compartment  with 
them,  first,  because  I  was  going  towards  Germany  and  I 
would  practice  speaking  a  little,  and  second,  because  I 
was  afraid  to  ride  with  two  or  three  Turks  all  night  in  a 
car  locked  up,  and  in  a  car  from  which  there  was  no 
possible  egress  and  no  hope  of  aid  if  it  should  be  need- 
ed. I  had  purposely  assumed  a  garb  that  was  calcula- 
ted to  allay  all  suspicion  that  I  might  have  anything 
worth  seizing,  and  enjoyed  more  ease  in  consequence  on 
this  transcontinental  ride. 

The  cars  on  all  European  railroads  are  dispatched  in 
the  same  w^ay,  as  follows  :  Two  alarm  or  signal  bells  are 
rung  a  few  minutes  before  the  cars  are  ready  to  -start; 
when  the  time  expires  a  third  bell  is  rung,  the  conduc- 
tor blows  a  whistle  like  a  dog  whistle,  the  engineer  re- 
sponds with  a  single  whistle  from  his  engine,  the  cars 
moving  off  at  the  same  instant.  There  is  no  getting  off 
or  on  after  the  last  bell  is  rung. 

As  we  said  we  took  the  cars  in  old  Stamboul  and 
skirted  the  city  by  the  seashore.  It  was  twenty  min- 
utes ere  we  passed  the  last  emblazonry  of  the  Sublime 
Porte  and  shot  out  into  the  darkness  towards  the  west 
and  home. 


279 

Unable  to  converse  with  the  two  or  three  passengers 
that  were  in  the  section  of  the  car  with  me  I  was  left  to 
my  own  reflections,  and  many  were  the  thoughts  that 
coursed  through  my  brain  about  these  Turks,  so  strange 
in  religion,  in  habit,  in  speech,  in  dress  and  all  their 
customs ;  and  the  mind  went  on  to  kindred  subjects, 
the  conditions  of  the  human  race,  their  multiform  ways, 
creeds,  colors  and  characteristics.  But  much  is  common 
to  them  all.  All  thirst  for  more.  All  have  some  form 
of  religion.  All  are  "made  of  one  blood  for  to  dwell  on 
all  the  face  of  the  earth,"  and  perhaps  God  sees  a  greater 
good  in  them  all  than  we  can  see  or  are  ready  to  believe. 
Musing  thus  the  hours  wore  on  and  tired  nature  sank 
into  the  arms  of  Morpheus.  There  are  no  sleeping 
accommodations  on  this  line,  except  on  the  train  that 
leaves  on  Sundays,  but  I  left  on  Thursday. 

Next  morning  we  reached 

ADRIANOPLE, 

the  last  Turkish  town.  Other  travelers  carried  their 
baggage  to  the  custom  house  from  the  train.  I  did  not. 
I  had  not  seen  it  on  that  fashion  as  yet.  So  in  a  few 
minutes  the  officers  searched  the  train,  and  I  expected 
trouble,  but  found  none  and  experienced  such  a  sense  of 
relief  at  being  rid  of  these  bugbears  "as  only  those  who 
have  travelled  in  the  Orient  are  able  to  appreciate. 

As  we  hurried  through  a  very  fertile  looking  plain  the 
Balkan  mountains,  about  twenty  miles  from  our  way, 
were  covered  with  snow.  The  fellaheen  were  ploughing 
with  six-ox  teams  to  iron  plows,  made  by  civilized  me- 
chanics, which  promised  to  put  new  life  into  the  agri- 
cultural interest  of  lands  so  long  depressed  under  Turk- 
ish rule.     We  passed  the   breastworks   that  mark   the 


280 

spot  where  many  a  brave  Servian  bled  and  died  in 
1877_'78,  striving  to  free  themselves  from  the  galling 
yoke  of  Turkey.  Large  herds  of  sheep  were  pasturing 
near  the  road  in  Turkey,  Servia,  and  Roumelia. 

This  long  railroad  has  different  cars  and  different  of- 
ficials for  every  state  through  which  it  passes,  and  we 
knew  when  we  ran  into  a  new  territory  by  the  change  in 
the  uniform  of  the  railway  and  military  officers.  The 
Servians  and  Bulofarians  wear  very  heavy  caps  of  felt 
with  long  knap,  also  the  red  stripes  down  their  trouser 
legs  was  about  two  inches  wide  while  that  of  the  Turks 
was  only  one-fourth  to  three-eighths  wide;  all  soldiers 
wear  their  national  coat  of  arms.  The  first  day  I  took 
dinner  at  Tzaribrod.  This  is  the  country  where  people 
live  so  long.  Near  here,  Peter  Czartan  lived  185  years, 
and  Kamartzik,  of  Polotszk,  163  years,  and  between  here 
and  Constantinople,  an  old  Turk  still  lives,  aged  150  years, 
supported  by  the  Sultan's  generosity.  If  one  of  these 
old  gentlemen  should  declare  that  he  was  Adam,  no 
living  man,  from  his  own  personal  knowledge,  could 
deny  it.  The  names  on  signs  here  were  almost  all  Rus- 
sian, as  well  as  the  style  of  the  people's  dress. 

I  noticed  in  passing  through  Bulgaria,  the  water  con- 
veyed to  several  mills  through  races  around  hillsides 
until  it  had  reached  the  point  to  be  applied  when  it  was 
emptied  from  the  race  into  a  hollow  log  about  twenty 
feet  long  through  which  it  was  precipitated  against  a 
paddle  wheel. 

On  the  evening  of  April  18th,  the  snow  was  falling 
and  there  was  promise  of  a  cold,  sleepless  night.  I  had 
just  fallen  into  a  good  slumber  when  quite  a  stir  of 
passengers  awoke  me.  All  must  go  with  all  th^ir  bag- 
gage  again  to  the    Bulgarian   customs    officers   to  be 


281 

examined  and  have  our  passports  restamped.  My 
shoes  were  thin,  the  rain  and  snow  were  faUing  fast, 
the  fire  had  died  out  in  the  stove  that  was  this  time 
under  the  coach,  warming  the  car  by  a  pipe  that  ran 
through  from  bottom  to  top.  So  I  moved  slowly  and 
my  baggage  was  rather  heavy  for  a  «?ingle  man  to  carry. 
There  were  no  lights  about  and  I  was  nearly  lost  in  the 
darkness,  unable  to  speak  a  word  comprehensible  to  the 
people  there.  There  were  two  or  three  doors  or  windows 
lighted  up  by  dim  lamps  within,  and  in  one  of  these  I 
saw  people  moving  about;  to  that  one  I  went  to  find  the 
low  counter  for  the  reception  of  a  traveller's  baggage. 
Passing  these  guardians  at  the  outposts  of  the  nation 
who  register  every  passenger's  name,  place  from  which 
he  comes,  and  to  which  he  is  going,  (because  'eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty')  and  regaining  my  car, 
I  wrapped  myself  in  my  Arab  bist,  and  slept  till  the 
morning  sun  showed  us  the  flushed  river  Save  at  the 
junction  of  which  with  the  Danube  we  see  the  beauti- 
ful city  of  Belgrade,  into  which  we  run  and  get  a  fine 
breakfast  at  the  railroad  restaurant. 

Once  more  our  luggage  and  passports  have  to  be  ex- 
hibited, and  once  more  on  the  cars  we  feel  easy.  We 
cross  a  high  trestle  over  the  Save  and  stop  at  Semlin, 
still  in  sight  of  Belgrade,  and  are  ordered  once  more  to 
give  the  representatives  of  the  Austrian  Empire  suffic- 
ient reasons  why  we  should  hope  to  enjoy  so  great  and 
important  a  privilege  as  to  pass  through  their  country. 
It  is  not  enough  that  a  man  is  of  a  lawful  age,  he  must 
be  well  recommended  also. 

From  Semlin  to  Pesth  the  road  soon  crosses  the  Da- 
nube and  then  runs  north  between  the  rivers  Theiss  and 
Danube,  about  seven  hours  through  a  marshy  plain  all 
18 


282 

the  way.  Many  ponds  of  water,  miles  in  extent,  and 
not  over  two  feet  deep,  lay  along  our  way.  The  farm 
house,  all  through  Hungary,  reminded  me  of  those  of 
the  Dutch  I  had  been  used  to  at  home.  The  cattle  are 
some  species  of  long-horns ;  often  their  horns  seemed  to 
be  three  feet  long,  or  more. 

We  stopped  only  about  an  hour  or  two  in 

BUDA-PESTH, 

and  had  only  time  to  get  an  idea  of  the  general  appear- 
ance of  the  Hungarian  capital,  and  hurried  aw^ay  to 
Vienna,  Wien  they  call  it  in  German.  I  found  two 
Hungarians  aboard  the  cars  w^ho  had  lived  a  long  w^iile 
in  America.  One  was  going  to  Vienna  to  see  his  wife 
and  baby.  To  hear  him  speak  of  his  baby  reminded 
me  of  the  father  of  "  dat  Young  Yawcub  Strauss."  Fol- 
lowing his  advice  I  stopped  at  the  hotel  Wimberger, 
near  the  West  Bahnhof,  and  was  w^ell  pleased,  even 
when  I  reckoned  with  mine  host  and  Co.  Generally 
two  or  three  to  a  dozen  servants  are  on  hand  when  a 
traveller  leaves,  each  expecting  a  gratuity. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 


VIENNA. 


It  would  require  a  whole  book  to  give  any  adequate 
Idea  of  the  "  most  splendid  capitol  of  Europe."  It  is 
an  old  city,  originally  settled  by  Celts,  afterwards,  it 
became  a  Roman  military  station.  Marcus  Aurelius 
died  there.  It  was  besieged  by  Attila  and  afterwards 
by  the  Turks.  It  has  been  the  seat  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg  for  more  than  six  hundred  years. 

Vienna  owes  its  beauty  to  a  circumstance.  It  was 
once  a  walled  town,  but  all  the  space  having  been  taken 
for  buildings  and  streets  within  the  walls,  the  space 
around  them  was  taken  until  there  was  more  of  the  city 
outside  than  inside  the  walls. 

The  ancient  city  within  the  walls  is  called  the  Stadt^ 
and  numbers  about  50,000  inhabitants,  while  the  entire 
city  numbers  about  1,000,000.  As  the  bulk  of  the  city 
was  thus  exposed,  it  was  determined  about  thirty-two 
years  ago  to  tear  the  wall  away,  the  space  occupied  by 
the  Wall  was  converted  int(j  a  street  about  two  or  three 
hundred  feet  wide,  laid  ofi'  into  boulevards  and  street- 
car lines.     It  is  called  Ring-Strasse. 

The  Stadt  is  the  fashionable  quarter.  The  Hof  burg, 
or  imperial  palace  is  there  as  well  as  those  of  the  nobility. 
There  is  the  Graben  or  street  containing  the  finest  stores, 
the  banks,  leading  churches,  museums,  galleries,  etc. 

Around  the  Ring-Strasse  (Ring  Street)  are  situated  the 
National  Museum,  two  large  stone  buildings  covering 


284 

about  four  acres  each,  and  between  them  Maria  Theresa 
Platz,  where  her  bronze  statue  is  seated  in  an  imperial 
chair  surrounded  by  statesmen,  generals,  poets,  sculptors, 
physicians  and  musicians  as  Loudon,  Khevenhueler, 
Lichtenstein,  Daun,  Kaminitz:  Haugwitz,  Mozart,  Haydn 
and  others. 

Next  is  the  Treasury,  after  ^vhich  is  the  Parliament 
building,  the  facade  of  which  presents  three  gables 
adorned  with  statuary  representing  the  country  at  peace: 
these  are  supported  by  fifty  Corinthian  columns  and 
eight  pilasters.  Sloping  walks,  guarded  by  gens  d'arms 
go  up  to  the  great  porches.  The  interior  is  arranged 
after  the  same  model  as  that  of  the  United  States  at 
Washington.  The  top  is  surmounted  by  eight  chariots 
drawm  by  two  and  four  horses.  It  is  said  to  have  cost 
8,000,000  florins.  We  noticed  some  master-pieces  of 
frescoing,  done  by  Kruppen-Carl :  Maria  Theresa,  after 
the  seven  years'  war,  Founding  of  St.  Stephens,  and  From 
the  Cradle  to  the  Grave,  the  original,  no  doubt,  from 
which  came  the  chromos  and  engravings  of  the  same,  so 
numerous  in  the  United  States.  Next  to  this  is  the 
Rathhaus,  or  city  hall,  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world, 
costing  17,000,000  florins,  (a  florin  purchases  about  as 
much  labor  as  a  dollar,  but  is  less  than  50  cts.)  The 
ceiling  of  one  room,  the  grand  reception  hall,  cost 
48,000  florins  and  a  single  chandelier  cost  35,000  florins. 
The  floor  is  made  of  oak  mosaics  oiled. 

The  Rathhaus  is  situated  in  the  rear  of  a  square  laid 
off  in  pretty  walks  and  thick-set  with  shrubbery. 

Next  to  the  Rathhaus  is  the  Votivkirche(Yoi\Ye  church) 
erected  in  commemoration  of  the  Emperor's  escape  from 
assassination  in  1853.  Very  near  by  is  the  University. 
The  departments  are  all  in  the  same  room,  and  labeled 


285 

Law,  Theology,  Medicine,  &c.  The  Aula  contains  the 
statues  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  Rudolph,  the  lounder. 
The  library  occupies  nine  stories,  having  floors  of  iron 
bars  about  the  size  of  plastering  laths  turned  edgewise 
to  admit  the  free  transmission  of  light.  It  is  said  to 
contain  1,000,000  volumes,  besides  several  thousand 
incunabula  (first  books  printed)  some  fine  books  of  parch- 
ment costing  1,400  florins  per  volume  when  new.  They 
contain  very  rare,  highly  colored  pictures.  All  these  are 
seen  in  glass  show-cases.  Crossing  the  Ringstrasse,  we 
pass  the  New  Opera,  a  very  imposing  structure  exter- 
nally, enter  the  Volksgarten,  a  small  park  containing  the 
Theseum,  a  small  Temple  built  like  the  Temple  of  The- 
seus at  Athens,  and  to  hold  Canova's  marble  group  oi 
Theseus  slaying  the  Minotaur.  Passing  through  the 
Volksgarten  we  see  the  Opera  House,  Bank,  Academia, 
Kunstler  Haus,  which  is  quite  a  picture  gallery,  filled 
with  visitors.  One  picture,  by  Falkenburg,  unfolds  to  a 
protestant  philosophic  mind  one  cause  of  the  universal 
social  and  moral  obliquity  that  predominates  here.  The 
picture  is  that  of  a  young  woman,  with  rather  flushed 
face,  kneeling  behind  an  old  man  clad  in  the  attire  of  a 
Catholic  Priest ;  his  head  inclines  to  catch  the  words 
she  tremblingly  whispers  in  his  ear;  we  pause  to  hear 
them;  ^^ Pater  peccaviP''  (Father  I  have  sinned).  For- 
giveness is  easil}^  obtained,  and  the  way  is  paved  for 
repetition. 

The  educating  influence  of  such  pictures  in  these  con- 
spicuous places  is  past  estimating,  especially  when  they 
are  praised  by  the  great  and  learned. 

The  art  galleries  of  Europe  are  largely  what  Catholic 
priests  have  made  them  ;  the  people  are  very  largely  in- 
fluenced by  the  galleries.     If  chastity  is  barely  known 


286 

it  is  because  it  is  not  desired.  The  innate  sense  of  pu- 
rity is  assisted  just  enough  by  the  church  to  forbid  that 
the  sale  of  indulgences  and  the  confessional  should 
cease,  while  human  nature  has  all  the  encouragement 
that  the  lewdest  genius  can  suggest.  It  is  a  positive 
injury  for  any  one  to  visit  these  places  whose  character 
is  not  formed.  ^  ^  ^  ^  jyj^j^  ^f  prestige 
should  cry  out  against  the  lewd  in  art,  unless  the  mod- 
esty that  is  praised  be  false  and  have  no  foundation  in 
nature  and  the  fitness  of  things.  We  in  America  .-ire 
following  in  the  wake  of  our  ancestors.  Are  we  only 
behind  them  in  reality  or  following  them  astray? 

French  Infidelity,  German  Rationalism  and  Russian 
Nihilism  are  only  natural  reactions — protests  against 
the  unnatural  and  illegitimate  assumptions  and  teach- 
ings of  Roman  Catholicism  in  France  and  Germany 
and  Greek  Catholicism  in  Russia. 

Beside  the  Kunstler  Haus  stands  the  elegant  Music 
Freund,  adorned  with  the  marble  busts  of  Gluck,  Haydn, 
Mozart,  Beethoven,  Schubert,  Schumann,  and  many 
others.  A  little  further  is  Christ's  church  and  Beetho- 
ven's monument  in  Bronze. 

All  these  places  which  I  have  mentioned  are  situated 
on  an  arc  of  the  circular  street  called  the  Ringstrasse, 
and  suggest  how  splendid  an  appearance  it  must  present. 
The  whole  of  this  street  runs  between  lofty  mansions, 
hotels,  museums,  galleries  and  beergardens  fitted  up 
like  parks. 

I  attended  service  in  St.  Stephen's  church,  Stephen's 
Platz  or  square,  said  to  be  one  of  the  noblest  gothic  ed- 
ifices in  Europe.  The  Catholic  worship  is  all  alike  to 
me,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  explain  it  to  those  who 
have  seen  it,  and  hardly  possible  to  those  who  have  not. 


287 

I  ascended  the  tower,  over  450  feet  high,  there  bemg 
only  two  church  steeples  higher  in  the  world,  those  of 
Strasburg  and  Cologne. 

I  went  to  the  Augustine  church  to  see  Canova's  mon- 
ument of  the  Archduchess  Maria  Christina,  said  to  be 
one  of  his  noblest  works.  The  tomb  is  triangular,  and 
built  of  marble.  The  inscription  above  the  door  is  in 
Latin — Uxori  optim.^  Alburtus — to  the  most  excellent  wife 
of  Albert.  Above  this  inscription  an  angel  supports  a 
cartouch  bearing  her  name  and  profile ;  another  ap- 
proaches bearing  a  palm ;  a  female  figure  and  two  chil- 
dren enter  the  door  bearing  an  urn  and  wreaths  ;  to  the 
left  another  female  figure  leading  an  old  man ;  to  the  right 
an  angel  reclines  on  a  sleeping  lion.  The  figures  are  life 
size.  In  the  Loretto  Chapel  of  this  church  are  the  silver 
urns  that  contain  the  hearts  of  many  members  of  the 
im^Dcrial  family. 

The  Capuchin  church  contains  two  leaden  boxes,  in 
which  are  the  ashes  of  Maria  Louisa  and  the  Duke  of 
Keichstadt,  second  wife  and  only  child  of  the  great  Na- 
poleon, This  unfortunate  son  fell  as  far  short  of  as  his 
father  transcended  parental  expectancy.  Two  squares 
away,  in  the  Treasury  Museum,  is  the  royal  cradle^ 
trimmed  in  satin,  pearls  and  gold. 

We  noticed  a  barefoot  (not  an  uncommon  thing)  Ca- 
puchin priest  sitting  near  the  sidewalk  reading  on  Sun- 
day morning,  and  stopped  to  learn  that  he  was  so  posing 
to  arrest  passers  by,  who  should  thus  be  made  to  read 
the  conspicuous  advertisement  of  a  "panoptican  show" 
going  on  in  rear  of  him.     His  trick  was  a  success. 

All  these  Austrians  go  to  church.  I  noticed  little 
children,  not  over  three  and  four  years  old,  at  church 
and  worshipping,  just  as  the  old  people  did,  kneeling  be- 


288 

fore  the  crucifix<^s,  images  and  paintings  of  Christ  as 
they  passed.  All  attend  early  and  say  their  appointed 
number  of  prayers,  and  the  remainder  of  the  Sabbath, 
say  after  nine  or  ten  o'clock,  is  converted  into  a  holiday. 
They  go  by  thousands  into  the  country  on  excursions, 
as  hundreds  of  tram-cars  i  un  daily,  while  all  who  do 
not  go  to  the  country  go  to  the  Prater  or  other  heergarten. 
The  Prater  is  the  great  place  of  concourse.  I  went  out 
Easter  Monday,  and  I  and  a  Presbyterian  minister  who 
witnessed  the  scene,  estimated  that  there  were  no  less 
than  100,000  people  in  the  Prater  that  day.  It  is  a 
magnificent  park,  laid  off  into  walks  and  drives,  con- 
taining many  theatres,  circuses,  beer-gartens  "flying 
Dutchmen,  lady  orchestras  and  other  catchpenny  places 
of  amusement." 

To  say  this  number  drank  not  less  than  5,000  barrels 
of  beer  that  day  would  appear  extravagant  until  we 
state  that  we  have  it  on  good  author  ty  that  one  beer-haus 
in  Munich  consumes  1,000  barrels  daily,  a  quart  being 
the  smallest  amount  sold  at  one  time.  The  average  dai- 
ly consumption  is  two  quarts  per  capita  for  the  entire 
population. 

A  tram-car  climbs  from  the  city  to  the  heights  on  the 
west  by  means  of  a  cog-wheel ;  we  ascended  and  had  a 
nice  view  of  the  city  and  her  environs.  It  is  novel  to 
an  American  to  see  little  boys  of  7,  8  and  9  years  carry- 
ing side  arms  and  dressed  in  uniform,  and  of  all  ages 
carrying  canes.  They  appear  to  be  following  the  pre- 
cept as  they  understand  it — train  up  a  child  in  the  w^ay 
he  should  go  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart 
from  it.  They  want  a  soldier  out  of  every  man,  and  so 
begin  on  him  in  time.  ,  And  while  these  youngsters  are 
in  the  cities  and  towas  of  Europe  flirting  with  city  girls, 


289 

their  sisters  are  at  home  doing  all  the  farm  wcrk.  It 
was  a  daily  sight  in  Vienna  to  see  pretty  girls  driving 
two-horse  wagons  from  the  country,  when  no  doubt 
their  brothers  were  in  the  Austrian  camp.  It  was  the 
same  going  from  town  to  town  on  the  cars — the  women 
were  cultivating  farms  everywhere.  Alas,  when  a  nation 
must  thus  waste  its  productive  forces  in  order  to  feel 
secure,  while  all  the  delicate  sense  of  woman,  that  makes 
her  queen  of  home  and  clothes  her  with  native  charms, 
is  blunted  by  reducing  her  to  a  serf,  with  the  task  of 
feeding  the  family  and  supplying  tax  sufficient  for  the 
nourishment  of  her  son,  husband  or  brother  and  the 
government  besides. 

It  was  really  amusing  to  see  large  dogs  hitched  to 
'One-horse  wagons  loaded  with  milk  or  vegetables,  to 
lighten  the  draught  otherwise  falling  upon  the  market- 
woman. 

We  took  one  morning  to  visit  Shoenbrun,  the  magnifi- 
cent summer  palace  of  the  Emperor  two  miles  from  Vi- 
enna. We  counted  165  windows  on  one  side,  which 
enables  one  to  have  some  idea  of  its  size.  It  is  in  har- 
mony, externally  and  internally,  with  the  style  of  Francis 
Joseph.  All  the  entrances  are  guarded  by  gens  d'armes, 
and  though  in  this  is  like  all  European  palaces,  we  are 
glad  of  the  contrast  in  this  respect  between  it  and  the 
White  House. 

A  pretty  park,  covering  more  than  a  thousand  acres, 
surrounds  Shoenbrun.  It  is  laid  off'  into  many  pretty 
walks  and  drives  and  beautified  by  fountains  filled  with 
fishes.  Seats  are  placed  at  proper  intervals,  and  it  did 
me  good  to  see  the  poor  people  walking  through  these 
royal  gardens  or  resting  by  these  beautiful  spouting 
fountains.     One  drive,  about  a  mile  in  length,  has  a  row 


290 

of  small  oak  trees  on  each  side  that  seem  to  have  beerb 
cut  perpendicularly  by  a  great  plane,  and  then  about 
twenty  feet  above  the  ground,  by  a  horizontal  j^lane ; 
looking  down  this  avenue  from  one  end  there  seems  to- 
be  a  solid  wall  on  each  side  of  the  drive ;  not  one  twig 
an  inch  long  projects  beyond  the  plane. 

In  one  museum  I  saw  figures  in  wax  illustrating 
many  diseases.  The  flesh  seemed  to  be  purposely  cut 
away  so  as  to  expose  the  various  organs  aflected  in  these 
diseases,  and  often  many  figures  were  reproduced  to 
show  the  progress  of  the  diseases ;  bones  were  broken, 
often  projecting  through  the  flesh,  polpoid  growths  were 
being  extracted ;  eyes,  ears,  nose,  throat  and  all  were 
diseased  and  being  relieved.  The  nervous,  veinous,  ar- 
terial and  muscular  svstems  with  the  viscera  were  all 
shown,  each  to  itself.  One  hardly  knows  which  to  ad- 
mire most,  the  one  who  dictated  or  the  one  w^ho  exe- 
cuted so  skillfully  for  such  an  exhibition. 

The  squares  of  Vienna  are  adorned  wdth  many  eques- 
trian statues.  Belvedere  gallery  is  the  largest  in  the 
city  and  claimed  my  time  one  half  day.  Raphsel's  Ma- 
donna a  la  Verdure  is  here.  Titian  has  a  Madonna  here, 
Corregio  a  Ganymede  and  an  lo.  One  of  the  best  pieces 
is  an  Altar  piece  representing  the  Catholic,  Greek,  Jew- 
ish, Mohammedan  and  Brahmin  faiths. 

It  has  beeh  the  custom  for  more  than  250  years  for 
the  Austrian  Emperors  and  their  wives  to  wash  the  feet 
of  twelve  old  men  and  twelve  old  women  of  the  city  on 
Friday  before  Easter,  every  year.  They  also  send  a 
table  (Thote  dinner  and  a  bottle  of  wine  to  those  whose 
feet  they  have  washed.  The  suicide  of  the  Kroniwintz 
this  year  cast  such  gloom  over  the  royal  ilimily  as  to 
forbid  festivities,  and  the  ancient  custom  was  unob- 
served. 


291 

The  Aiistrians  are  a  healthy,  good-natured  looking^ 
set,  fond  of  show  and  pleasure,  and  mostly  have  blue 
eyes.  They  are  all  Catholics,  and  badly  priest-ridden. 
I  copy  a  few  extracts  from  a  confidential  circular  placed 
in  my  hands : 

The  object  of  this  communication  is  to  give  a  few  particulars 
of  a  quiet  work  for  the  Lord  which  has  been  carried  on  for  some 
time  at ,  province  of  Austria.  The  indiscriminate  publi- 
cation of  details  in  Christian  journals  is  an  impossibility,  as  in 
consequence  of  the  lack  of  religious  liberty  in  this  country,  all 
aggressive  evangelistic  effort,  especially  that  of  an  undenomina- 
tional character,  is  practically  prohibited,  and  it  is  only  by  act- 
ing with  the  greatest  prudence  and  by  keeping  carefully  within 
the  letter  of  the  law  that  such  work  can  be  done.  We  there- 
fore earnestly  request  those  Christians  into  whose  hands  this 
may  fall  to  regard  the  communications  it  contains  as  confidential, 
and  to  exercise  care  that  the  circular  may  not  fall  into  the  hands 
of  Jesuit  spies,  who  are  constantly  on  the  watch  for  any  streak  of 
light  on  this  priest-ridden  land,  and  whose  influence  upon  the 
authorities  and  people  at  large  is  so  great  that  they  often  suc- 
ceed in  putting  an  end  to  all  efforts. 

Public  Gospel  meetings  as  they  can,  be  held  in  England,. 
France  and  Italy,  being  forbidden  in  Austria,  we  can  only  have 
private  gatherings  in  our  own  dwelling,  with  a  limited  number 
of  people,  whom  we  must  invite  personally  by  cards. 

The  great  centre  of  attraction  in  our  meetings  is  the  Bible.  By 
far  the  majority  of  our  attendants  had  never  seen  a  copy  of  the 
Word  of  God  ere  thev  came  to  us. 


CHAPTER  XXXTV. 


THROUGH  GERMANY,  DOWN  THE  RHINE. 


Our  train  rolled  out  of  the  grand  Westhahnhoff  on  the 
clear,  crisp,  frosty  morning  of  April  24th,  bound  for 
Frankfort-on-the-Main.  I  took  a  slow  train  because  they 
often  stop  over  two,  four  and  six  hours,  giving  the  hur- 
ried tourist  time  to  see  many  places  he  would  have  to 
pass  by  if  on  the  limited  express ;  also  the  slow  trains 
are  used  by  the  common  people,  while  the  fast  trains  are 
chiefly  used  by  the  wealthy,  and  I  wished  to  see  all  I 
possibly  could  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  The 
rich  are  about  the  same  the  world  over. 

Soon  after  leaving  Vienna  the  mountains  of  vStyria 
and  T3T0I  appeared  far  off  to  the  left  and  covered  with 
snow  seemed  to  lift  a  warning  hand  that  Switzerland  was 
too  cold  and  must  be  passed  by.  All  day  we  fly  over  the 
most  pleasing  landscapes  ;  all  the  land  that  is  cleared  is 
in  a  fine  state  of  cultivation.  If  it  is  clothed  in  verdure 
every  foot  is  occupied;  if  it  is  fallowed  every  inch  is 
broken ;  if  a  canal  passes  through  it  does  not  monopo- 
lize ;  just  so  much  as  is  necessary  is  taken  for  the  water, 
the  remainder  is  utilized  in  some  other  way.  If  some  is 
left  CO  sustain  its  native  forest,  the  decaying  trees  and 
shrubs  are  removed  and  every  part  presents  the  finish  of 
.agricultural  and  horticultural  skill,  and  nature  herself 
Jias  woven  these  landscapes   into  lovely  shapes  as  deft 


293 

fingers  do  the  drapery  of  dress.  Baedeker  says  of  this 
section,  "No  other  district  in  Germany  offers  such  a  va- 
riety of  charming  scenery  within  so  small  a  compass." 

PASS  A  u, 

the  first  town  reached  in  Germany,  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Inn  and  Danube,  is  a  beautiful  town  that  really 
looks  more  rustic  than  city-like.  We  spent  an  hour  here 
looking  round  and  getting  rid  of  Austrian  florins  and 
hruetzers  for  German  marks  and  'pfennigs. 

I  met  a  gentleman  here  who  spoke  English  ;  we  took  a 
compartment  together  to  Nuremburgh.  He  was  a  native 
Eusse,  and  spoke  freely  of  the  efforts  made  by  Eussia  to- 
capture  Servia  and  Bulgaria  by  flooding  those  sections 
with  political  and  religious  (Greek)  literature  from  Mos- 
cow and  other  great  centers  of  Eussia,  and  expressed 
himself  as  of  opinion  that  they  were  about  ready  to  ally 
themselves  to  Eussia. 

We  pass,  near 

REGENSBUKG, 

the  Walhalla  or  Temple  of  Fame,  called  also  Deucher 
Ehren,  modeled  after  the  Parthenon  at  Athens,  built  fifty 
or  sixty  years  ago  by  Louis  I,  of  Bavaria.  The  entab- 
lature is  adorned  Avith  sculptures  by  Wagner,  illustra- 
ting Germany's  ancient  history.  Below  are  a  hundred 
busts  of  eminent  Germans.  The  grounds  about  the 
building  are  admirably  laid  out,  and  command  a  fine 
view.  The  whole  is  on  a  height  overlooking  the  Danube 
and  city. 

I  stopped  four  hours  in 

KUREMBURG, 

which  gave  me  time  to  see  the  old  high-gabled  houses 


294 

ynth  stone  balconies ;  the  double  wall,  800  years  old, 
^hose  lofty  tower  called  the  Burg  I  climbed  to  get  a 
better  view  of  the  town  and  its  environs.  The  Rathhaus, 
or  town  hall,  was  about  to  be  closed  for  the  day,  but  a 
few  pfennigs  turned  the  key  backwards,  and  I  saw  with- 
in. It  is  a  rare  building  and  has  connection  with  famous 
deeds.  It  contains  Albert  Durer's  best  works  in  fres- 
coes, and  a  very  fine  painting  of  himself  painting  Max- 
imilian the  Great ;  also  a  fine  portrait  of  Faber,  of  lead 
pencil  notoriety.  There  is  the  lion  of  "Red-wine  and 
White-wine"  fame,  and  I  sat  in  the  Royal  chair  of  Leopold 
I.  The  Shoene  Brunnen,  or  beautiful  fountain,  deserves 
the  name. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Pegnitz,  where  across  hroad  meadow  lands, 

Else  the  blue  Franconian  mountains,  Nuremberg,  the  ancient,  stands. 

Quaint  old  town  of  toil  and  traffic-  quaint  old  town  of  art  ana  song. 
Memories  haunt  thy  painted  gahles,  like  the  rooks  that  round  them  throng; 

Memories  of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  Emperors,  rough  and  hold. 
Had  their  dwelling  in  thy  Castle,  time-defying,  centuries  old. 

And  thy  brave  and  thrifty  burghers  boasted,  in  their  uncouth  rhyme, 
•That  their  great  imperial  city  stretched  its  hand  through  every  clime. 

Everywhere  I  see  around  me  rise  the  wondrous  world  of  Art, 

Fountains  wrought  with  richest  sculpture  standing  in  the  common  mart; 

And  above  Cathedral  doorways  saints  and  bishops  carved  in  stone, 
By  a  former  age  commissioned  as  apostles  to  our  own. 

Here,  when  Art  wast  still  religion,  with  a  simple,  reverent  heart. 
Lived  and  labored  Albrecht  Durer,  the  Evangelist  of  Art : 

Here  Hans  Sachs,  the  cobbler-poet,  laureate  of  the  gentle  craft. 

Wisest  of  the  Twelve  Wise  Masters,  in  huge  folios  sang  and  laughed. 

But  his  house  is  now  an  ale-house,  with  a  nicely  sanded  floor, 
And  a  garland  in  the  window,  and  his  face  above  the  door : 

And  at  night  the  swart  mechanic  comes  to  drown  hiscark  and  care, 
•Quaffing  ale  from  pewter  tankards,  in  the  master's  antique  chair. 

JNot  thy  Councils,  not  thy  Kaisers,  win  for  thee  the  world's  regard ; 
But  thy  painter,  Albrecht  Diirer  and  Hans  Sachs,  thy  cobbler-bard. 

Thus,  O,  Nuremberg,  a  wanderer  from  a  region  far  away. 

As  he  paced  thy  streets  and  court-yards,  sang  in  thought  his  careles  lay : 

Gathering  from  the  pavement's  crevice,  as  a  floweret  of  the  soil, 

The  nobility  of  labor— the  long  pedigree  of  toil.  —Longfellow. 


295 

From  Nuremburg  we  ran  down  to 

WURZBURG 

•on  the  Main,  reaching  there  a  short  while  before  day- 
Having  to  leave  at  sunrise,  and  as  there  was  a  good  res- 
taurant in  the  Station,  I  did  not  go  to  a  hotel ;  here  I 
received  the  first  native  hospitality  I  had  known  for 
many  weeks.  An  attendant  at  the  depot  invited  me  to 
his  room  and  supplied  me  with  water,  soap,  towel  and  a 
comb,  which  conduct  I  supposed  was  designed  to  secure 
a  small  perquisite;  this  he  refused,  however,  when  of- 
fered, and  only  received  it  when  I  insisted.  I  was  anx- 
ious to  go  across  the  Main  and  visit  the  monument  of 
Walter  of  Vogelweid,  the  Minesinger  of  whose  will  Long- 
fellow says  : 


"And  lie  gave  the  monks  liis  treasures, 
Gave  them  all  with  this  behest  : 

They  should  feed  the  birds  at  noontide 
Daily  on  his  place  of  rest ; 

Saying,  'From  these  wandering  minstrels 
I  have  learned  the  art  of  song ; 

Let  me  now  repay  the  lessons 
They  have  taught  so  well  and  long.' 

"Thus  the  bard  of  love  departed  ; 

And,  fulfilling  his  desire, 
On  his  tomb  the  birds  were  feasted 

By  the  children  of  the  choir. 

"Thus  they  sang  their  merry  carols  — 
Sang  their  lauds  on  every  side ; 

And  the  name  their  voices  uttered 
Was  the  name  of  Vogelweid." 


The  town  is  also  noted  for  the  manufacture  of  fine 
wines  from  the  vineyards  seen  along  the  railway,  and 
for  the  medical  depai'tment  of  its  University.  There 
were  three  Japanese  students  in  the  Station  who  had 
been  smoking  and  drinking  beer  all  night. 


296 

We  dashed  down  and  across  the  Main,  through  tun- 
nels, over  bridges,  through  green  fields  and  forests  of 
maple,  cypress  and  oak,  and  reached 

FRANKFORT, 

the  home  of  one  of  the  Rothchilds  and  birthplace  of 
Goethe,  at  8  o'clock,  a.  m. 

The  Ariadne,  Danneker's  masterpiece,  in  Bethmann's 
Museum,  is  a  solid  piece  of  Marble  representing  this 
bcMutiful  daughter  of  Crete  as  left  by  Theseus  and 
found  by  Bacchus,  seated  on  a  lion.  She  sits  sidewise 
on  the  beast  looking  over  her  right  shoulder.  The  poet- 
sculptor  clothes  her  with  that  happy  freedom  from  care 
that  we  welcome  in  any  face,  and  that  laxity  of  restraint 
for  which  the  artist  refuses  any  substitute.  Leaving  the 
Ariadneum  I  mistook  the  directions  of  the  keeper,  and 
was  soon  lost ;  having  only  my  German  to  fall  back 
upon,  I  asked  many  a  time,  the  best  I  could,  the  way 
to  the  Stiidel  Gallery,  and  sometimes  got  plain  direc- 
tions, accompanied  by  appropriate  motions  of  the  head 
and  hands,  the  latter  of  which  conveyed  more  intelli- 
gence to  my  mind  than  the  best  German :  often  I  would 
pause  in  front  of  a  fellow -pedestrian  with  my  stereo- 
typed. Wo  ist  Stadel  Museum?  He  would  very  often  look 
straight  at  me,  as  if  astonished,  and  reply :  ''  Ich  verstehe 
nicht,  mein  HeiT^  "  I  do  not  comprehend,  sir."  Again  I 
approached  some  one  who  was  evidently  a  stranger,  like 
myself,  he  would  merely  shrug  his  shoulders  and  pass 
on.  (All  Europeans  shrug  the  shoulders  when  asked  a 
confusing  question.) 

"  To  Sit  on  rocks,  to  muse  o'er  flood  and  fell, 

To  slowly  trace  the  forest's  shady  scene, 
Where  things  that  own  not  man's  dominion  dwell. 

And  mortal  foot  hath  ne'er  or  rarely  been, 


297 


To  climb  the  trackless  mountain  all  unseen, 

With  the  wild  flocks  that  never  need  a  fold 
Alone  o'er  steeps  and  foaming  falls  to  lean— 

This  is  not  solitude,  'tis  but  to  hold 
Converse  with  nature's  charms,  to  view  her  stores  unrolled- 

"  But  in  the  city's  hum,  the  din,  the  shock  of  men, 

To  hear,  to  see,  to  feel,  and  to  possess 
And  roam  along  the  world's  tired  denizen, 

With  none  to  bless  us,  none  whom  we  can  bless. 
Minions  of  splendor  shrinking  from  distress, 

None  who,  with  kindred  consciousness  endued. 

None  who  if  we  were  not  would  smile  the  less 
Of  all  who  followed,  flattered,  sought  and  sued. 

This  is  to  be  alone ;  this,  this  is  solitude." 


I  instinctively  carry  my  reckoning,  like  the  lower  an- 
imals, but  lost  it  altogether  in  Frankfort,  and  only  began 
to  find  myself  after  I  had  gone  over  the  "Cock  and 
Devil  "  bridge,  as  it  is  called,  because  the  architect  con- 
signed the  first  living  thing  that  should  cross  it,  to  the 
bottomless  pit ;  this  proved  to  be  a  cock,  a  large  figure 
of  w^hich  is  placed  on  one  of  the  pillars  that  extends 
several  feet  above  the  floor,  also  one  of  Charlemagne  is 
near  by.  Like  the  Seine  at  Paris,  and  the  Thames  at 
London,  so  at  Frankfort  the  Main  runs  between  stone 
walls  and  over  a  macadamized  bed.  Once  over  this 
bridge  I  had  to  go  down  the  river  half  a  mile  to  the  mu- 
seum, and  the  tops  of  steeples  and  other  high  objects  all 
became  so  adjusted  in  my  mind  that  I  had  no  farther 
difficulty. 

The  Stadel  gallery  contains  several  Madonnas  (por- 
traits of  the  Virgin  Mary)  w^hich  are  classed  among 
noted  paintings,  an  altar-piece  by  Fra  Angelico,  and 
imitations  of  the  Venus  de  Medici,  Laocoon,  Wrestlers, 
&c.  The  Brazen  Shield  of  Achilles  by  Schwanthaler  is 
a  master-piece.  A  very  fine  painting  of  the  Ten  Vir- 
gins must  have  suggested  the  lines  of  Owen  Meredith  : 
19 


298 

*'  One  still  as  death,  hollowed  her  hand  about  her  lamp, 

For  fear  some  motion  of  the  midnight,  or  her  treath 

Should  fan  out  the  last  flicker. 

Rosy  clear  the  light  oosed  through  her  fingers  o'er  her  face. 

There  was  a  ruined  beauty  hovering  there. 

Over  deep  pain,  and  dashed  with  lurid  glare— 

A  waning  gloom." 

The  Kaisersaal,  which  contains  frescoe  portraits  of  all 
the  German  emperors  from  Konrad  I,  911,  to  Francis  II, 
1806,  and  the  clock  given  by  Napoleon  I,  claimed  me 
an  hour,  after  which  I  went  to  the  Dom  to  see  the  Dead 
Christ,  by  Van  Dyck,  and  an  altar-piece  in  wood,  repre- 
senting the  crucifixion.  I  made  a  hurried  visit  to  the 
beautiful  Palmgarten,  the  monuments  of  Schiller  and 
Gutenberg,  and  left  for  Heidelberg,  passing  Darmstadt, 
in  which  one  sees  from  the  cars  the  war  monument  of 
Ludwig  Einster,  1870-1. 

Almost  every  foot  of  lar  d  is  cultivated  from  Darm- 
stadt to  Heidelberg ;  it  is  rented  out  in  small  patches ; 
often  one  farmer  has  a  lot  fifty  yards  wide  and  three 
hundred  long  in  wheat,  beside  that  and  about  the  same 
size,  one  is  newly  ploughed  for  corn  or  some  other  crop. 
The  land  for  many  miles  is  laid  off  this  w^ay,  and  I  was 
told  that  one  man  had  possession  of  only  a  few  acres. 
In  the  distance  to  our  left  several  towers  rise  on  the 
heights. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


HEIDELBERG,  WORMS,  DOWN  THE  RHINE 
TO  COLOGNE. 


At  nightfall  the  old  University  town  of  * 

HEIDELBERG 

is  reached,  made  up  of  16,000  Protestants,  9,000  Cath- 
olics and  2,000  Jews.  After  a  good  night's  rest  I  took 
a  guide  and  went  to  the  Molkencur,  a  very  high  moun- 
tain overlooking  the  city  and  valley.  My  guide  pointed 
out  one  of  the  largest  cement  factories  in  the  world,  the 
valley  over  the  Neckar  where  the  students  light  duels 
two  or  three  times  a  week,  a  church  half  Catholic  and 
half  Protestant,  each  denomination  worshipping  in  it 
every  Sabbath,  and  the  old  castle,  which  has  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  French,  by  lightning,  and  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  ever  successful  destroyer.  Time.  Heavy 
fogs  advised  us  not  to  ascend  to  Konig^s  Stohl,  as  the  view 
would  not  repay  the  toil. 

We  will  go  down  from  this  splendid  observatory  to  look 
through  the  historic  castle.  It  is  reached  by  crossing  a 
draw-bridge,  over  a  very  large  moat,  then  through  the 
gate  in  which  hangs  still  the  ponderous  portcullis,  and 
we  are  in  the  open  court,  where  sixteen  of  the  electors  of 
Palatine,  done  in  stone,  look  down  from  their  niches  in 
the  lofty  walls.  In  a  museum  of  antiquities,  seen  for 
twenty  pfennigs,  there  are  many  old  swords  and   all  the 


300 

machinery  of  ancient  battle,  keys  almost  as  heavy  as  a 
pick,  mugs,  moneys,  postillion  boots  truly  monstrous 
model  of  the  castle  Molkencur,  Konigs  Stohl  and  plan  of 
the  city  made  of  cork  by  a  cook,  securing  for  him  a  for- 
tune. Below  is  the  great  Tun,  holding  50,000  gallons 
of  wine ;  it  has  eighteen  hoops  8x10  inches,  the  two  at 
the  ends  being  8x14  inches.  It  has  been  filled  three 
times,  the  last  time  wasj'in^  1769,  by  Charles  Theodore 
elector  of  Bavaria.  On  the  top  is  a  platform  where 
about  six  or  eight  persons  can  dance,  which  they  did 
on  the  occasion  of  filling  the  Tun. 

The  great  university  founded  by  Rupert  Carolo,  elec- 
tor of  Palatine  in  1487,  contains  his  bust  in  the  aula,  or 
assembly  hall.  Around  the  front  of  the  gallery  are  the 
names  of  many  of  their  noted  professors,  while  the  ceil- 
ing has  female  figures  representing  Theology,  Law,  Med- 
icine and  Philosophy. 

I  w^ent  from  H.  to  Maintz,  stopping  two  hours  in 

WOKMS 

to  see  the  monument  of  Martin  Luther  on  the  Luther 
Platz.  He  is  standing  with  upturned  face  on  which  is 
depicted  intelligence,  conviction,  courage,  purpose.  In 
his  left  hand  he  holds  the  Bible ;  his  right  is  closed  and 
rests  on  the  Bible ;  below  him  are  cut  in  the  stone  the 
words  : 

Hier  Stelie  Icli. 
Icli  Kann  niclit  Anders. 
Gott  Hilf  mir !  Amen ! 

which  mean :  Here  I  stand.  I  cannot  retract.  God  help 
me !  Amen ! 

The  artist  was  most   happy  in  the  execution  of  his 


301 

task ;  one  seems  to  be  in  the  presence  of  the  living  hero 
of  1521.  I  saw  nothing  else  while  traveling  that  so 
electrified  me  as  did  this  statue. 

There  is  no  grander  exhibition  on  earth  than  a  man 
to  whom  God  has  committed  a  trust  not  recognized  by 
his  cotemporaries  perhaps,  but  known  to  himself,  and 
having  the  courage  of  his  convictions  amid  all  opposi- 
tion and  persecution,  intent  on  doing  his  part  at  all 
hazards.  Ko  doubt  the  world  is  a  greater  debtor  to 
moral  than  to  physical  courage.  It  is  in  such  birth- 
throes  that  correct  thought  and  right  sentiment  burst  the 
prison  bars  of  dogmatism  and  custom  and  leap  into  life 
to  emancipate  nations  and  races. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  ride  of  an  hour  to 

MAINTZ. 

Farm  houses  are  thick ;  gardens,  pastures  and  stock  are 
fine ;  at  every  station  country  lasses  unload  large  cans 
of  milk  for  the  city.  A  bar  or  rail  is  put  up  at  every 
railroad  crossing,  and  the  sentry  presents  arms  while  the 
train  is  passing.  Every  private  soldier  salutes  every 
officer  he  passes,  though  they  may  be  on  opposite  sides  of 
very  wide  streets,  filled  with  carriages  or  wagons.  This 
often  requires  several  hundred  salutations  a  day. 

Maintz  is  one  of  the  best  fortified  cities  in  Europe, 
and  contains  many  fine  monuments.  The  Cathedral  is 
said  to  be  the  richest  in  monuments  of  any  in  Europe. 
I  only  took  time  to  hurry  through  it.  The  Tablet  to 
Fastrada,  wife  of  Charlemagne,  and  Schwan thaler's 
monument  to  Frauenlob,  the  pious  minstrel  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  were  all  I  noticed.  Cars  run  on  both  sides  of  the 
Rhine,  but  we  preferred  to  take  a  steamer.     The  Rhine 


302 

has  been  written  about  so  miicli  that  I  hesitate  to  say 
anything ;  the  scenery  to  Bonn,  birthplace  of  Beethoven 
and  seat  of  a  University,  is  wild  and  attractive ;  the 
perpendicular  hills  are  crowned  with  old  towers,  the 
sloping  ones  ornamented  with  terraces,  growing  fruits 
and  grapes.  The  Ehine  and  its  fels  and  towns  have 
many  a  legend  of  ancient  hero  and  heroine,  as  Siegfried 
and  Brunhilde,  of  Einbod  and  the  Maiden  offered  to  the 
monster  of  Drachelf  els  and  Lurlei,  Bishop  Hatto  and  the 
Mouse  Tower,  Hans  Winkelsee,  and  scores  of  others.  In 
all  their  romances  and  songs  the  river  of  Germany  has 
mingled  its  "chorus  sweet  and  clear." 

Across  the  Ehine  Julius  Ca?sar  built  his  bridge,  and 
along   its   banks    history  has    been    making  ever  since. 

We  reached 

COLOGNE 

about  sundown.  I  stopped  within  one  square  of  the 
Cathedral,  thought  by  some  to  be  the  grandest  Gothic 
structure  in  the  world,  being  500  feet  high ;  it  has  one 
door  or  portal  (on  the  south)  that  cost  $500,000 ;  it  has 
a  chapel  called  the  Chapel  of  the  Three  Kings,  said  to 
contain  the  bones  of  the  ]VIagi  I 

I  attended  the  Church  of  England  services  on  Sun- 
day, which  seemed  designed  for,  as  they  were  only  attend- 
ed by  visitors.  The  Sabbath  is  used  as  a  holiday,  after 
the  early  morning  service,  say  nine  to  ten  o'clock,  in 
Cologne  as  in  Vienna.  I  went  to  the  Cathedral  before 
breakfast  on  Sunday  to  find  it  almost  filled  at  that  early 
hour.  They  had  the  finest  music  I  ever  heard,  which 
was  kept  up  nearly  all  day ;  when  one  division  of  the 
choir  would  sing  until  exhausted,  another  would  be 
called  on. 


303 

I  went  to  St.  Andrew's  (Catholic)  Church  before 
breakfast  Monday  mornmg.  About  200  children  were 
at  prayers,  with  about  a  dozen  ladies,  all  led  by  a  little 
girl  not  over  ten  years  old.  She  would  utter  several  in- 
vocations, pause  and  be  followed  by  the  congregation 
repeating  the  last  sentence  or  uttering  a  responsive 
prayer.  They  had  stepped  into  this  church  on  thdir 
way  to  school,  as  they  do  every  morning,  and  as  their 
minds  are  developed  their  hearts  and  habits  are  fixed 
about  the  altars  of  the  church. 

The  church  of  St.  Peter  has  an  altar-piece,  Rubens' 
"Crucifixion  of  St.  Peter,"  which  is  thought  to  be  very 
superior ;  the  head  is  downwards.  Near  by,  at  No.  10 
Sternengasse,  is  shown  the  house  in  which  Peter  Paul 
Rubens  was  born,  1577,  and  in  which  Maria  de  Medici 
died  in  1642,  having  been  driven  by  the  heartless  Rich- 
eheu,  for  whom  she  had  obtained  the  cardinalate  from 
her  Parisian  home. 

The  Rathhaus,  about  six  hundred  years  old,  is  a  splen- 
did city  hall,  dedicated  to  the  Caesars.  The  bronze 
equestrian  statue  of  William  III,  places  him  high  above 
the  men  who  graced  and  supported  his  regime,  and  oth- 
ers of  the  cult  of  Blucher  and  Von  Humboldt. 

At  12  M.,  on  the  day  after  reaching  Cologne  we,  took 
the  cars  for 

BRUSSELS, 

arriving  at  9  o'clock  the  same  evening,  passing  on  the 
way  Aix-la-Chrqjelle,  the  birth-place  and  favorite  resi- 
dence of  Charlemagne,  and  where  for  several  hundred 
years  after  his  death  the  German  emperors  were 
crowned. 

At  this  place  both  Charlemagne  and  his  wife  Fastrada 


304 

died.     He  was  buried  in  the  octagonal  nave  built   by 

himself  in  a  marble  chair.     About  a  mile  or  two  from 

the  railway  one  can  see  the  Frankenbiirg,  a  hunting-seat 

of  the  great  Charles.     It  is  said   the  water  surrounding 

the  Castle  was  a  lake,  into  which   his  wife's   ring   was 

thrown. 

"  Thou  knowest  ttie  story  of  her  ring, 
How,  when  the  court  went  back  to  Aix, 
Fastrada  died :  and  how  the  King 
Sat  watching  by  her  night  and  day. 
Till  into  one  of  the  blue  lakes. 
Which  water  that  delicious  land 
They  cast  the  ring  drawn  from  her  hand ; 
And  the  great  monarch  sat  serene 
And  sad  beside  the  fated  shore. 
Nor  left  the  land  forevermore." 

—  Golden  Legend. 

We  pass  Liege,  a  factor}^  town,  and  the  first  in  Bel- 
gium. A  train  with  200  passengers  dashed  in  from  >Spa, 
the  oldest  watering  place  in  Europe,  of  any  note.  As  it 
only  costs  from  one  to  three  cents  per  mile  to  travel  in 
Belgium,  and  as  it  is  the  most  populous  country  in  the 
world  for  its  size,  there  is  much  travel.  Chaude  Fon- 
taine, another  watering  place,  was  on  the  line  of  our 
road  and  looks  somewhat  like  Piedmont  Springs,  in 
Burke  County,  N.  C.  A  large  new  hotel  was  in  course 
of  erection.  The  entire  face  of  the  country  in  Belgium 
is  as  pretty  as  a  picture.  The  morning  after  reaching 
Brussels  I  went  out  to  see  the  field  of 

WATERLOO, 

twelve  miles  from  the  city.  A  large  mound  has  been 
built  in  the  center  of  the  field,  about  800  feet  west  of 
where  Wellington's  headquarters  were  during  the  fatal 
day,  and  very  near  the  position  of  the  impregnable 
square,  behind  which  was  the  road  into  which  fell 

"Rider  and  horse,  friend  and  foe,  in  one  red  burial  blent." 


305 

The  top  of  the  mound  is  reached  by  ascending  200 
steps.  It  is  surmounted  by  a  granite  base  of  huge  pro- 
portions, on  which  stands  a  cast  lion  looking  towards 
France  with  one  fore-foot  resting  on  a  globe.  This  sig- 
nifies so  much  to  the  Frenchman  that  my  guide  said 
-only  few  of  them  visit  Waterloo  at  all.  I  was  very  for- 
tunate in  having  a  guide  well  posted  on  the  history  of 
the  movements  made  by  all  the  leaders  in  that  crisis  of 
the  world's  history. 

Napoleon  had  approached  to  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  Wellington's  position,  when  Blucher  arrived. 
Wellington  had  all  the  advantage  in  position  from  one 
side  of  the  field  to  the  other.  But  such  battles  are  de- 
termined by  the  Friend  of  the  nations  and  not  by  the 
"  heaviest  artillery." 

Some  one  has  said  that  Napoleon  never  wrote  an  im- 
portant document  without  using  the  word  "  glory,"  as  if 
that  were  his  talisman,  and  Wellmgton  likewise  always 
used  the  word  "  duty."  And  on  this  field  of  carnage 
the  world  has  been  taught  the  superiority  and  triumph 
.of  duty  over  glory. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


THREE  WEEKS  IN  LONDON. 


Leaving  Brussels,  one  hour  sufficed  to  reach  Antwerp^ 
a  well  fortified  town  on  the  Scheldt,  on  the  borders  of 
Holland.  Xext  morning  at  six  we  were  seated  in  an 
English  railway  carriage  on  British  soil  and  enjoyed  a 
peace  of  mind  that  was  new.  I  felt  like  talking  much^ 
like  one  after  a  long  fast  enjoys  a  sumptuous  table 
d'hote,  and  indulged  freely  with  a  Londoner  and  an 
English-speaking  gentleman  from  Vienna.  The  country 
along  our  route  was  cleared  of  timber,  as  in  most  Euro- 
pean States,  but  the  farm-houses  and  farms  were  more 
like  those  I  had  been  used  to  at  home.  Soldiers  ubiqui- 
tous on  the  Continent  were  missed  here. 

At  nine  o'clock  I  stood  on  one  of  the  streets  of  the 
busiest  metropolis  of  the  world,  inquiring  for  a  'bus  that 
would  take  me  to  Smith's  Temperance  Hotel,  Southamp- 
ton Kow.  I  was  directed  to  go  to  the  Bank,  near  by. 
There  are  scores  of  banks  in  London,  but  only  one  is 
known  as  "the  Bank."  From  that  point  omnibusses  go 
in  all  directions  and  every  one  or  two  minutes,  for  one 
penny  a  mile.  Every  one  goes  loaded,  and  the  number 
of  pedestrians  does  not  appear  to  be  diminished.  In  fact 
so  dense  is  the  travel  on  the  main  thoroughfares  that  it 
is  often  difficult  to  leave  a  store  for  want  of  a  place 
in  the  throng,  but  once  in  one  is  moved  along  almost  in- 
voluntarily.    This   is  true  any  day  on    Cheapside,  the 


307 

Strand,  Oxford  street  or  Holborn.  On  th^e  streets  po- 
lice are  stationed  at  every  crossing  in  the  center  of  the 
street  to  direct  vehicles  to  the  left  side,  order  them  to 
stop  and  move  along,  and  give  every  one  a  fair  opportu- 
nity to  change  his  location,  a  privilege  his  individual 
self-assertion  is  often  inadequate  to  obtain. 

"The  thing  that  most  astonished  me  about  London,  and  that 
I  had  been  least  prepared  to  see  there,  was  the  amazing  activity 
in  the  streets.  A  New  Yorker  born  and  bred,  who  has  seen  the 
principal  American  cities,  fancies  that  there  can  be  nothing  in 
the  world  like  Fulton  street  and  Broadway. 

"London  is  full  of  Fulton  streets  and  Broadways,  and  in  them 
and  in  all  the  other  streets  the  cabs  and  hansoms  fly  about  in 
such  a  hot  and  apparently  reckless  way  that  I  always  felt  while 
I  was  there  that  the  only  reason  I  did  not  read  of  a  hundred 
'run  over'  accidents  every  morning  in  the  papers,  was  that 
it  would  be  doing  violence  to  the  organic  principles  of  the  Lon- 
don press  to  print  the  news.  I  confess  I  was  more  than  half 
afraid  to  cross  the  crowded  streets,  and  with  a  fear  which  is  en- 
gendered in  New  York  in  few  places  and  on  few  occasions.  I 
was  assured  by  the  citizens  that  they  are  all  so  accustomed  to 
project  their  coat  tails  at  right  angles  to  their  bodies  and  to  in- 
voke divine  aid  between  the  flying  hoofs  of  horses,  whenever 
they  need  to  cross  a  street,  and  that  they  are  as  adept  at  it  as 
an  American  lightning  rod  man  is  at  dodging  missiles.  Yet  I 
observe  that  Dickens,  in  his  Dictionary  of  London,  thinks  it 
worth  while  to  suggest  that  the  only  way  to  go  from  curb  to 
curb  is  to  make  up  your  mind  what  course  y^u  will  take  and 
then  stick  to  it,  because  then  the  London  cabbies  will  divine 
your  intentions.  To  change  your  mind  while  en  route  is  to 
confuse  the  cabmen,  and  make  your  return  to  America  be  in  the 
form  ol  freight.  Then,  again,  I  found  that  in  the  Western  end 
of  the  Strand — that  is  down  by  Temple  Bar  and  the  Law  Courts 
— 200  more  or  less  mangled  bodies  are  sent  to  the  Charing  Cross 
Hospital  every  year." 

There  are  several  elevated  railways,  and  London  un- 
derground is  said  to  be  honey-combed  with  railroads. 
There   is  one  place  where  1200  trains  pass  daily,  or  one 


308 

nearly  every  minute.     These  are  necessary  to  accommo- 
date the  vast  numbers  of  a  city  that  is  a  microcosm. 

"It  contains  more  Roman  Catholics  than  Rome  itself;  more 
Jews  than  Palestine  ;  more  Irish  than  Dublin  ;  more  Scotchmen 
than  Edinbur^: ;  more  Welchmen  than  Cardiff;  has  a  birth  in 
every  five  minutes  and  a  death  in  every  eight  minutes  ;  has 
seven  accidents  in  it  every  day  in  its  7,000  miles  of  streets  ;  has 
124  persons  every  day,  and  45,000  annually,  added  to  its  popula- 
tion; has  117,000  habitual  criminals  on  its  police  register,  and 
has  88.000  drunkards  annually  brought  before  the  magistrates*" 

There  are  5,500,000  inhabitants  occupying  nearly 
790  square  miles.  Allowing  a  third,  for  streets,  parks, 
gardens  and  the  Thames,  there  would  be  17  persons  to 
the  acre.  If  four  houses  were  built  on  every  acre,  there 
would  be  a  family  of  four  to  every  house,  aud  enough 
over  to  make  four  cities  as  large  as  Raleigh.  As  many 
of  the  wealthy  have  large  yards  and  gardens  and  small 
families,  one  -can  conjecture  how  densely  must  be  popu- 
lated the  poorer  districts ;  often  fifty  or  more  are  crowd- 
ed into  one  tenement  dwelling.  This  is  a  fruitful  source 
of  both  crime  and  disease,  and  the  wiser  heads  are  trying 
to  devise  means  for  the  amelioration  of  these  evils. 
"What  shall  we  do  with  our  cities?"  has  long  been  a 
question  among  European  philanthropists  and  econo- 
mists. Investigation  reveals  that  there  are  no  people  in 
London  whose  ancestry  can  be  traced  back  four  succes- 
sive generations  in  the  city.  One  way  of  checking  the 
evil  is  to  open  up  large  public  parks  and  gardens,  but 
the  desire  to  be  near  their  work  and  to  diminish  rent  on 
the  part  of  the  poor,  and  the  increased  income  from 
rents,  influences  the  wealthy  to  crowd  as  many  as  possi- 
ble into  every  house  that  is  for  rent,  and  thus  misfortune 
and  Mammon  sway  to  the  ignoring  of  the  good  laws  or- 


309 

dained  of  God  for  man's  well  beiug.  Those  who  most 
need  to  obey  the  laws  of  health  are  ignorant  of  them, 
and  have  not  the  power  if  they  had  the  wisdom  tO  observe 
them.  Those  Avho  know  of  them  and  have  the  power  to 
see  them  observed  more  generally,  have  not  the  disposi- 
tion to  help  any  but  themselves. 

They  have  in  London  what  is  known  as  the  "sweating 
system,"  by  w^hich  is  meant  that  a  person  who  has  credit 
gets  work  from  tailors  or  others,  and  gets  those  persons 
to  do  this  work  at  a  very  small  price,  who  have  no  credit 
and  who,  to  make  their  wages  cover  their  necessary  ex- 
penses of  living,  crowd  together  in  tenement  houses 
until  the  heat  radiated  from  their  bodies,  and  the  air, 
robbed  of  oxygen  by  frequent  inhalation,  make  a  condi- 
tion worthy  of  the  appellation.  It  presents  one  of  the 
evils  to  be  combatted  by  philanthropists  in  the  over- 
crowded city. 

"  The  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Lords  on 
Sweating  has  just  been  presented.  It  is  affirmed  that  the  chief 
factors  in  the  Sweating  System  are  not  middle-men  or  foreign 
labor  or  the  extensive  use  of  machinery.  The  system  is  shown 
on  the  contrary  to  be  the  issue  of  inefficiency  in  the  class  of 
workers,  early  marriages,  and  the  tendency  of  the  residuum  in 
large  towns  to  form  a  helpless  community  and  to  accept  a  low 
standard  of  life.  But,  in  the  main,  the  system  is  ascribed  to  the 
excessive  supply  of  unskilled  labor,  and  the  work  of  married 
women,  who  are  willing  to  employ  the  intervals  of  domestic- 
duty  at  a  low  rate  of  wages  which  to  single  women  would  mean 
starvation.  The  report  places  little  reliance  on  legislation, 
though  it  suggests  that  all  home-workers  should  be  registered 
and  open  to  authorized  inspection,  but  it  looks  hopefully  to- 
ward an  increased  sense  of  responsibility  in  the  employer  and 
improved  habits  on  the  side  of  the  employed.  Surely  John 
Wesley's  panacea  of  all  evils,  social,  industrial,  political  is  still 
the  true  and  only  one — the  spreading  of  scriptual  holiness 
throughout  the  land." 


810 

There  are  many  institutions  built  by  charity,  for  poor 
children.  I  saw  representatives  from  sixty-six  institu- 
tions for  the  governing  and  training  of  destitute  and 
criminal  children.  It  was  in  St.  James'  Hall.  They 
numbered  600,  and  were  trained  to  sing,  march,  and 
perform  in  pantomime  with  almost  perfect  precision.  I 
also  attended  a  meeting  of  the  "  London  Society  for  Pre- 
vention of  Cruelty  to  children  "  held  at  the  Mansion 
House,  with  the  announcement  that  "  The  Right  Hon.  the 
Lord  Mayor  will  Presided  This  announcement  always 
secures  a  full  attendance.  The  meeting  was  addressed 
by  H.  E.  Cardinal  Manning,  (whose  appearance  and 
bearing  are  very  similar  to  those  of  Dr.  Closs,  during 
life),  Hon.  A.  F.  Mundilla,  M.  P.,  A.  K.  Rollit,  M.  P., 
and  others. 

The  sights  of  London  are  too  numerous  to  be  cata- 
logued, a  list  of  the  most  interesting  is  kept  at  all  the 
hotels  for  gratuitous  distribution;  to  write  them  up 
would  be  to  write  almost  a  history  of  England.  The 
May  Meetings,  including  over  130  different  Societies  for 
the  good  of  Christian,  Jewish  and  heathen  men,  women 
and  children  were  holding  their  annual  meetings,  and 
were  of  great  interest  because  I  wished  to  learn  how  the 
English  churches  met  and  carried  their  responsibilities. 

As  Bishop  Marvin  said,  the  English  have  their  own 
way  of  doing  things.  At  all  of  the  meetings  w^hich  I  at- 
tended, about  twenty,  everything  was  cut  and  dried  be- 
forehand. The  questions  to  be  discussed  were  printed. 
The  mover  of  every  motion,  and  the  one  appointed  to 
second  it,  and  the  words  of  the  motion  were  all  on  a 
printed  circular.  The  speech  of  the  putter  of  the  mo- 
tion was  sometimes  read.  No  place  is  allowed  for  ex- 
temporaneous speechifying.     Generally  effort  was  made 


311 

to  secure  the  endorsement  of  my  Lord,  so  and  so,  by 
putting  him  in  the  chair  or  announcing  that  he  would 
be  present. 

These  Lords  and  bishops  have  a  monopoly  and  are 
conservative  enough  to  keep  as  far  as  possible  the  first 
places  at  a  distance  from  all  whose  qualification  to  fill 
them  comes  by  any  other  way  than  by  inheritance  or 
court  favor. 

They  put  on  the  greatest  imaginable  stiffness  and  be- 
have as  if  they  thought  the  matter  at  hand  were  worthy 
to  monopolize  the  world  of  thought  for  a  decade  or  two. 
The  audience  appear  to  accept  the  interpretation  put 
upon  it  and  cheer  to  the  echo  such  periods  as  are  com- 
monly used  all  over  our  country,  and  cry  "  Hear,  hear," 
to  ordinary  truisms.  Their  preparation  always  prevents 
confusion  and  I  judge  they  moved  so  slowly  only  be- 
cause their  common  people  were  so  far  behind.  In  the 
matter  of  collections,  however,  they  are  ahead  of  us.  I 
never  attended  any  service  in  church  or  public  hall  that 
a  collection  was  not  taken,  nearly  every  one  contribut- 
ing. 

What  I  have  said  does  not  imply  that  Great  Britian 
has  not  led  the  world  in  literature,  poetry  and  govern- 
ment, as  well  as  in  religion.  She  has.  If  her  form  of 
government  is  not  equal  to  ours,  in  our  judgment  it  is 
in  their  opinion  superior,  and  may  be  superior  when  we 
consider  the  character  of  the  subject.  Our  forefathers 
brought  away  the  best  conceptions  of  goverment  then  ex- 
isting and  the  best  class  of  citizens  the  world  could  thne 
furnish  with  which  to  maintain  such  a  government 
when  it  should  be  formed. 

England  has  done  more  than  we  in  the  matters  men- 
tioned above,  but  she  has  been  many  centuries  at  it.     I 


312 

told  a  patriotic  Briton  that  we  expected  to  have  as  raan5r 
Poets  and  Literati  after  awhile  as  England.  He  said  we 
did  not  have  one  whose  name  was  as  great,  and  who 
had  lived  before  the  world  so  long  as  Shakespeare.  I 
told  him  just  to  .wait  until  we  lived  to  be  as  old  a  peo- 
ple as  the  British  and  he  would  see  what  he  would  see  ! 

At  these  meetings  it  was  plain  to  be  seen  that  a  war 
was  going  on  between  the  established  church  and  the 
dissenters.  At  several  meetings  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land in  Exeter  Hall,  whenever  evangelistical  efforts 
er  e  reported  such  as  they  were  driven  to  adopt  by  dis- 
senters there  would  be  cheers  loud  and  long.  Frequent 
disparaging  references  were  made  to  dissenters,  while  the 
dissenters  were  loud  in  their  complaints  against  an  op- 
pressive system  that  had  to  be  supported  by  all  the 
people,  many  of  whom  did  not  believe  in  its  polity,  nor 
all  of  its  doctrines.  In  Joseph  Parker's  church  an  or- 
der of  court  that  had  been  issued  for  selling  some  poor 
man's  property  for  taxes  due  the  established  church  was 
exhibited  and  much  enthusiasm  aroused  against  such  a 
condition  of  things.  Rev.  Mr.  Cleal  said  in  City  Temple 
at  this  same  meeting  that  he  had  known  the  names  of 
pupils  taken  in  the  day  schools  to  compel  them  to  at- 
tend the  Sunday  Schools  of  the  English  church.  He 
said  "  Our  opponents  are  hard  to  oppose  because  they 
drift  in  the  spirit  of  the  age." 

The  dissenters  are  hopeful  of  a  change  and  are  faith- 
fully bearing  the  testimony  of  Jesus. 

There  are  many  Churchmen  who  are  uneasy  lest  the 
Pope  shall  make  great  inroads  into  England,  he  has 
already  said:  "England  is  doing  well."  The  "Tract 
Movement,"  converted  thousands  to  Romanism.  The 
Queen's  private  Sacretary  is  a  Catholic,  and  wise  people 


313 

"know  what  that  means.  The  alarm  has  been  great 
enough  to  call  forth  much  comment  in  the  Churchman, 
specially  on  the  occasion  of  Her  Majesty's  visit  to  a  con- 
vent while  in  Spain,  and  a  poem  which  had  a  wide  cir- 
culation, a  stanza  or  two  of  which  I  copy  : 

To-day  the  curse  is  in  his  keart. 

The  while  with  /z>j  he  blesses ; 
Infidel— Godless  England  sees 

No  harm  in  his  caresses ; 
The  maudlin  men  of  "  Modern  Thought " 

Can  grip  no  Standard  truth ; 
And  Jesuits  in  the  English  Church 

Have  Romanised  our  youth : 
The  very  throne  has  howed  itself 

At  Leo's  trampling  feet ; 

Can  God  do  otherwise  than  let 

Such  Sin  with  sorrow  meet  ? 

Beckon  him  on ! !    This  blessin^-Po^e, 

.He  holds  Victoria  inle, 
And  fain  would  give  her  "  Moonlight "  fare. 

As  in  the  Sister  Isle ; 
"  No  faith  with  heretics,"  is  still 

The  Papal  undertone ; 
And  Englishmen  are  fools,  who  think 

That  Rome  has  kinder  grown ; 
"  Kill,  kill,"  She  says  ;  let  Manning's  words 

Our  sad  attention  win. 

Or  li/e  or  liberty  gOCS  OUt 

When  Leo's  power  comes  in. 

Victoria  has  a  hard  time,  I  presume ;  while  everything- 
nearly  seemed  to  indicate  the  greatest  love  and  devo- 
tion. Each  party  is  very  jealous,  and  objects  to  any 
patronage  being  given  to  the  others.  Her  policy  seems 
to  be  to  do  at  Rome  as  the  Romans  do.  In  Scotland  she 
attends  the  Presbyterian  church,  in  Spain  the  Catholic, 
at  home  the  Ej^iscopal. 

One  can  see  why  she  should  defer  to  so  great  an  extent 

to  the  Catholic  church,  when  one  remembers  that  Ireland 

is  so  largely  Catholic  and  that  50,000  of  her  troops  are 
20  "^ 


314 

Catholic,  besides  tliose  who  live  on  English  soil,  and  the 
further  fact  that  her  Majesty's  interest  in  the  East  is 
protected  by  the  Catholic  in  the  jealousy  he  bears  towards 
the  Greek  church  of  Russia  and  the  Slavonic  States. 
All  eastern  people  are  ruled  through  their  religion,  and 
to  be  stable  in  power  the  monarch  must  properly  esti- 
mate all  the  factors  involved  in  the  problem  of  ruling. 
The  Queen  can  afford  to  smile  upon  the  church  of  Eome 
for  the  returns.  The  leaders  of  Society  forgive  her  if 
their  principles  oppose,  for  their  standing  depends  upon 
her  patronage  as  well.  And  if  the  Jesuit  is  far  more 
diligent  and  successful  in  improving  every  occasion  than 
the  Protestant,  nobody  deserves  so  much  blame  as  this 
same  fault-finding  Protestant.  The  propagation  of  any 
religion  depends  upon  the  operation  of  natural  laws  (on 
the  human  side)  which  are  as  much  the  property  of  one 
individual  or  sect  as  of  another. 

•  Protestantism  needs  to  learn  the  value  of  printer's 
ink,  as  the  Politician  and  Jesuit  know  it,  as  well  as  the 
worth  of  devotion  to  the  task  in  hand. 

Mr.  Spurgeon  has  learned  this  lesson  and  not  only  has 
written  a  great  many  books,  but  has  organized  a  tho- 
rough system  of  Colportage,  the  annual  meeting  of  which 
it  was  my  privilege  to  attend  in  his  Tabernacle ;  it  is 
working  well.  Mr.  Wesley  learned  it,  and  wrote  and 
sold  books — cheap  books — with  what  result  is  known  too 
well  to  be  repeated  here. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIL 


SIGHTS  IN  LONDON. 


At  several  meetings  of  the  Wesleyau  Methodists  I 
learned  that  they  are  trying  to  carry  their  share  of 
responsibility  in  supplying  the  people  with  the  gospel. 
I  was  present  at  the  opening  of  Cleveland  hall,  which  is 
a  Methodist  church.  The  same  meeting  was  protracted 
and  many  souls  converted. 

The  West  End  Mission  is  supplied  by  Kevs.  Hugh 
Price  Hughes,  who  is  second  only  to  Spurgeon  as  a  pop- 
ular leader  among  dissenters,  and  Mark  Guy  Pearce,  his 
colleague,  both  of  whom  I  heard  preach. 

I  attended  several  services  in  City  Road  Chapel,  in  the 
church  of  John  Wesley.  It  now  has  two  preachers,  one 
of  whom,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Murrill,  kindly  showed  me 
through  Mr.  Wesley's  house.  His  study  was  a  small 
room  not  over  7x8  feet.  In  it  is  the  quaint  old  teapot 
from  which  he  gave  his  preachers  a  cup  of  tea  on  every 
Sunday  morning ;  part  of  the  spout  is  broken  off  and  on 
each  side  is  burned  in  blue  letters  a  stanza  used  as  a 
blessing  before  and  after  meals.     One  reads  as  follows: 

"Be  present  at  our  table,  Lord- 
Be  here,  he  everywhere  adored, 
And  in  thy  mercy  grant  that  we 
In  paradise  may  sup  with  thee." 

The  room  in  which  Mr.  Wesley  died  is  a  small  room. 


INTERIOR    OF    CITY    ROAD    CHAPEL. 


318 

In  it  are  his  writing  desk  and  libraiy,  his  clock  and  his 
chair.  Mr.  Murrill  said  that  Cyrus  Field  had  offered 
$2,500  for  the  writing  desk  and  $500  for  the  teapot ; 
but  no  sum  could  purchase  them.  I  was  present  at  a 
tea-party  in  the  parlor  of  the  church  and  was  invited  to 
address  the  meeting.  I  also  made  a  talk  to  their  Sunday 
School,  and  preached  in  the  evening  in  the  Mission  Chap- 
el. In  the  rear  of  the  church  is  Wesley's  tomb,  which  is 
very  unpretentious,  consisting  of  a  base  about  four  by 
eight  feet  and  about  four  feet  high  ;  on  this  rests  a  shaft 
six  or  seven  feet  high,  with  the  single  word  Wesley  on 
one  side.  Since  my  visit  a  tomb  like  the  accompanying 
cut  has  been  built.  Around  him  lie  Clark,  Watson, 
Benson,  and  many  others  noted  in  Methodist  history. 
Tablets  to  the  memory  of  the  Wesley s,  Fletcher,  Dr.. A. 
Clarke,  Joseph  Benson,  Coakeand  others,  are  in  the  walls 
of  the  church  behind  the  altar  and  on  either  side. 

Across  the  street  is  Bunhill  Fields  Cemetery,  once  the 
chief  burial  place  for  non-conformists,  but  now  disused. 
It  contains  the  tomb  of  Watts,  DeFoe,  Bunyan,  whose 
tomb  has  the  figure  of  "Pilgrim,"  with  a  load  upon  his 
back.  A  large  upright  marble  slab,  near  the  centre  of 
the  grounds,  contains  the  following : 

HERE    LIES    THE    BODY    OF 

MRS.    SUSAN^^A   WESLEY, 

WIDOW     OF    REV.    S.     WESLEY,     M.     A.. 

YOUN"GEST     DAUGHTER    OF    REV.    S.    ANXESLEY,    D.  D.y 

MOTHER     OF     XII^'ETEEJf     CHILDREN, 

OF     WHOM     THE      MOST      EMIXE^^T     WERE      JOHIs"      AND 

CHARLES,     THE     FORMER     FOUNDER     OF     THE     SOCIETIES 

CALLED     METHODISTS. 


In  sure  and  steadfast  hope  to  rise 
And  claim  her  mansion  in  the  skies  ; 
A  Christian  here  her  flesh  hiid  down, 
The  Cross  exchanging  for  a  crown. 


Wesley's  tomb. 


320 

Of  the  noted  preachers  in  London  I  heard  Spurgeon, 
Canon  Farrar,  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  Mark  Guy  Pearce, 
Newman  Hall,  Joseph  Parker,  and  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don. At  the  May  Meetings  I  heard  some  dozens  of 
preachers  from  the  country,  and  Missionaries  from  the 
foreign  fields.  Besides  the  Colportage  meeting  in  Spur- 
geon's  Tabernacle,  I  was  present  on  two  Sundays  when 
he  preached ;  both  sermons  were  superior  as  to  matter 
and  delivery.  His  church  has  two  elliptical  galleries, 
each  holding  about  1,000,  while  the  body  of  the  house 
holds  4,000.  It  was  full  on  both  occasions.  His  voice 
was  pitched  on  the  proper  key  to  fill  the  auditorium,  and 
sustained  throughout.  He  preaches  an  hour,  and  uses 
great  variety  of  style  both  in  sermonizing  and  in  his  de- 
livery. He  comments  on  the  lesson  before  the  sermon 
and  pronounces  the  benediction  without  song  or  prayer, 
after  the  sermon.  He  aims  at  immediate  results,  and 
preaches  with  great  earnestness  and  unction. 

As  nothing  else  in  the  Avorld  is  so  great  as  a  really 
great  man,  I  called  to  see  him  one  afternoon  for  a  few 
minutes.  I  said,  Mr.  Spurgeon,  I  am  an  American  stop- 
ping for  a  short  time  in  London,  and  thought  I  would 
like  to  form  your  acquaintance.  He  smiled,  extended 
Ms  hand  and  remarked:  "Well,  you  have  seen  a  great 
somebody,  indeed."  After  a  short  pleasant  conversation 
I  arose  to  leave,  when  he  said  :  ''May  the  Lord  bless  you 
and  give  you  a  safe  voyage  home." 

I  attended  a  prayer  meeting  in  a  room  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, which  is  held  every  Sabbath  from  10:30  to  11  a. 
M.,  when  prayer  is  offered  for  the  Holy  Ghost's  presence 
and  power  to  rest  oii  Mr.  Spurgeon,  the  members  of  the 
church,  visitors  and  the  unconverted  who  may  attend. 


321 

This  was  to  my  mind  an  explanation,  largely,  of  how, 
for  thirty  years  this  great  man  has  been  so  efficient  in 
his  Master's  vineyard. 

Mark  Guy  Pearce  is  a  Perfectionist,  and,  while  sensa- 
tional, believes  in  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
his  willingness  to  do  now  all  we  need  to  have  done  if  we 
are  but  willing  and  anxious.  He  preaches  with  much 
feeling.  His  colleague,  H.  Price  Hughes,  is  very  sensa- 
tional. He  attracts  and  controls  large  audiences.  He  is 
a  great  leader. 

On  the  last  Sunday  I  spent  in  London,  in  the  after- 
noon I  heard  Canon  Farrar  preach  in  Westminster  Ab- 
bey, and  scores  of  people  were  turned  away  for  want  of 
even  standing  room.  He  read  his  sermon,  and  it  was  a 
piece  of  splendid  composition  for  which  he  is  so  renown- 
ed. He  has  a  mellifluous  voice,  and  his  delivery  was 
splendid  considering  the  reading. 

Joseph  Parker's  City  Temple,  Holborn,  is  a  most  ele- 
gant church,  with  lecture  room,  study  and  parlors.  He 
is  a  topical  preacher ;  his  style  is  elevated  and  stately ; 
he  is  a  srand  man  to  look  at.  The  discourse  to  which  I 
listened  was  not  above  an  average,  but  was  enlivened 
occasionally  by  some  startling  statement  or  comment 
apropos  of  the  discussion.  Speaking  of  Esau  he  said: 
^'Has  it  come  to  that  I  Life  reduced  to  repentance — re- 
pentance vain !  Disembowelled  life !  An  epitaph  of  two 
words.  Born — Died  I  Alas  what  doth  temptation  I"  He 
uttered  no  uncertain  sound  on  the  subject  of  future  pun- 
ishment :  "God  says  thou  shalt  surely  die.  Satan  says 
thou  shalt  not  surely  die.  Reject,  young  man,  any  theory 
that  promises  any  probation  beyond  the  grave." 

There  are  many  noted  churches  in  London — City  Road 


INTERIOR    OF    WESTMINSTER    ABIJEV — CHOIR. 


323 

Chapel,  already  noticed ;  AVestminster  Abbey,  wbicli  con- 
tains the  dust  of  kings,  queens  and  warriors,  painters,, 
poets  and  sculptors,  statesmen,  philosophers  and  theolo- 
gians, all  honored  with  appropriate  tombs,  tablets  and 
epitaphs.  One  is  shown  the  Jerusalem  chamber,  where 
King  James'  and  the  revised  versions  were  translated. 
A  whole  day  is  necessary  to  half  way  see  over  the  pon- 
derous pile ;  while  one  might  read,  reflect  and  study  there 
for  a  lifetime  without  exhausting  the  subjects  of  interest. 

St.  Paul's  is  the  third  largest  ehurch  in  the  world,  and 
is  also  a  receptacle  for  such  heroes  as  Wellington,  Nel- 
son, Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the  architect  who  built  it, 
Eeynolds,  Samuel  Johnson  and  others,  making  it  a  kind 
of  "N"ational  Temple  of  Fame." 

The  Bow  Church  on  Cheapside  is  one  of  Wren's  best 
works.  There  is  a  dragon  on  the  top  of  the  steeple  9 
feet  long.  Persons  born  within  hearing  of  the  Bow- 
bells  are  Cockneys,  i.  e.  true  Londoners,  (B.) 

Newgate,  Ludgate,  Billingsgate  were  named  after  the 
old  gates  that  led  through  the  wall  when  this  was  a  Eo- 
man  town,  and  mark  the  old  city  limits,  now  miles  from 
the  suburbs. 

The  Tower,  which  covers  l.S  acres,  has  four  objects 
which  every  visitor  should  not  fail  to  see,  viz  : 

1.  The  Crown  Jewels  in  the  Wakefield  Tower.  Among 
many  other  coronets  is  that  of  Queen  Victoria,  contain- 
ing 2783  diamonds.  They  are  confined  like  lions  in  a 
circular  cage  of  iron  about  ten  feet  in  diameter.  Crowds 
of  people  gather  here  daily  to  behold  the  dazzling  gems, 
regalia,  scepters,  &c.,  valued  at  £3,000,000  or  about 
$15,000,000. 

2.  The  White  Tower,  the  old  original  Norman  keep  or 
prison,  with  walls  15  feet  thick,  containing  a  very  large 


325 

collection  of  old  armor,  such  as  was  used  during  several 
hundred  years. 

3.  Leaving  the  White  Tower,  the  space  in  front  is 
called  Tower  CIreen.  In  this  are  buried  the  victims  of 
jealousy  and  revenge.  In  the  middle  of  it  one  sees  a  small 
square  paved  with  granite  to  indicate  where  the  scaffold 
stood  for  the  execution  of  Queens  Anne  Boleyn  and 
Katharine,  Margaret,  Lady  Jane  (Gray)  and  many  other 
royal  unfortunates. 

4.  The  Beauchamp  Tower  on  the  west,  whose  walls 
are  full  of  inscriptions,  cut  in  the  stone  by  the  unfor- 
tunate wretches  incarcerated  there,  repays  a  visit. 

The  Bridges,  the  Equestrian  Statues,  the  Monuments 
to  statesmen,  warriors  and  discoverers,  the  British  Mu- 
seum, National  Gallery,  South  Kensington  Museum, 
Madame  Tussaud's  Waxworks,  with  the  Zoological  Gar- 
dens, Parks,  Palaces,  Houses  of  Parliament,  Place  of 
Justice,  with  strangely  clad  justices  and  barristers,. 
Banks,  Halls,  and  so  on,  would  require  many  weeks  to 
see  and  understand. 

The  j)ublic  ground  called  a  Square  in  America  is  called 
Circus  in  London,  Piazza  in  Italy,  Place  in  France,  and 
Platz  in  Germany. 

The  dogs  in  Turkey  are  curs  or  Shepherd  dogs,  or  a 
mixture,  in  Vienna  the  Mastiff  predominates,  and  is 
worked  to  the  market  wagon,  in  London  the  Pug  seems 
to  be  in  the  ascendency  and  is  always  led  about  by  a 
string. 

The  large  Norman  draught-horses,  as  in  France,  Ger- 
many, Austria  and  Belgium,  are  used  in  England  also. 

The  streets  are  kept  clean  by  regiments  of  boys,  car- 
rying wooden  scoops  and  stiff  brushes,  moving  rapidly 


326 

from  point  to  point  as  their  task  reqnires,  half  bent,  the 
scoop  sliding.  When  full  it  is  emptied  into  an  iron  box 
by  the  sidewalk,  several  feet  high.  These  boxes  are  duly 
yisited  by  wagons. 

Often  one  sees  a  boy  or  man  Avith  colored  crayons 
making  beautiful  pictures  on  the  smooth  stones  of  the 
sidewalk.  You  cannot  but  pause  to  admire  them,  stretch- 
ing for  many  yards,  and  often  the  product  of  real  geni- 
us.    You  will  soon  see  in  large  letters :  ".Will  you  xot 

CONTRIBUTE    TO    AID     A    POOR     AMBITIOUS     YOUTH  ?"      Or 

some  other  phrase,  asking  alms. 

On  almost  every  square  small  stands  face  the  street 
where  milk  is  on  sale.  At  these  one  can  get  a  quart  of 
milk  for  5  cents,  and  plenty  of  bread  for  a  hearty  meal 
for  two  cents.  There  are  commissioners  appointed  to 
buy  milk  daily  from  these  stands,  testing  its  quality  to 
protect  the  purchaser  from  imposition. 

Their  police  regulations  in  all  their  details  are  equal 
to  the  best  to  be  found  in  the  world,  probably. 

The  movements  of  the  royal  family  are  chronicled  in 
England  about  as  famous  persons  are  in  America.  It 
was  announced  one  morning  that  the  Queen  would  take 
the  cars,  from  Paddington  Station,  for  Windsor,  so  I, 
with  multitudes  of  others,  went  out  of  my  way  to  see 
her.  Great  crowds  gathered  on  all  the  street-corners,  re- 
quiring many  police  to  preserve  order.  Her  face  was 
flashed,  she  seemed  excited,  but  I  was  unable  to  deter- 
mine whether  it  was  from  modesty,  irritation  at  the  poor 
order  kept  by  the  guards,  or  a  fear  of  bombs,  or  some- 
thing altogether  different.  The  pageant  was  not  over- 
powering, yet  somewhat  greater  than  a  Presidential 
turnout. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


SCOTLAND— ABBOTSFORD,  EDINBURGH,  GLAS- 
-      GOW. 


After  a  sojourn  of  three  weeks  in  London,  every  wak- 
ing hour  of  which  was  turned  to  the  best  account,  I 
bought  a  ticket  to  Glasgow  by  way  of  Melrose  (called 
the  Waverly  Eoute)  and  Edinburgh,  passing  on  the  way 
Peterboro  the  Proud,  York  the  Ancient,  Durham  with 
its  castle  and  cathedral  encircled  by  the  river  Wear,  and 
ISTewcastle  father  on,  where  I  spent  about  four  hours, 
which  enabled  me  to  see  the  old  castle,  built  by  the  son 
of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  Stephenson's  great  bridge 
over  the  Tyne  and  his  monument,  reaching 

MELKOSE 

about  6  o'clock,  P.  M.  I  met  in  the  Abbey  a  gentleman 
from  West  Virginia.  We  remained  until  about  dark  and 
listened  to  the  custodian,  who  never  tired  showing  the 
resting  places  of  those  buried  within  its  walls  and  tell- 
ing of  their  heroic  deeds,  such  as  Douglas,  King  Robert 
Bruce,  whose  heart  is  buried  there,  Michael  Scott,  the 
famous  Wizard,  Murdoch,  the  first  Master  of  Melrose 
Lodge  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  which,  with  Kilwinning  is  said 
to  be  the  oldest  in  Scotland,  and  of  many  others  : 

"  Within  the  pile  no  common  dead 
Lay  blended  with  their  kindred  mould : 
Theirs  was  the  hearts  that  prayed  or  bled, 
In  cloister  dim  or  death-plain  red, 
The  pious  and  the  bold." 

"  The  pillared  arches  over  their  head," 


328 

the  finest  in  finish  o^  any  I  saw  anywhere,  engaged  our 
attention  quite  awhile.  "There  is  one  cloister,  along  the 
whole  length  of  which  runs  a  cornice  of  flowers  and 
plants,  entirely  unrivalled,  to  my  mind,  by  anything 
elsewhere  extant,  I  do  not  say  in  Gothic  architecture 
merely,  but  in  any  architecture  whatever."  Just  east  of 
the  Tower  Base  is  a  stone  in  front  of  a  large  window  in 
the  perpendicular  style  and  just  by  the  tomb  of  Michael 
Scott  the  "  Wizard  "  of  the  "  Lay,"  on  which  Sir  Walter 
used  to  sit  for  hours  meditating  and  composing,  often 
till  late  at  night,  for, 

"  If  tliou  -wouldst  view  fair  Melrose  ariglit 
Go  visit  it  by  the  pale  moon-light. 
When  buttress  and  buttress  alternately 
Seem  framed  of  ebon  and  ivory ;  • 

■Wlien  silver  edges  the  imagery, 
And  the  scrolls  that  teach  thee  to  live  and  die : 
When  distant  Tweed  is  heard  to  rave, 
Then  go— but  go  alone  the  while- 
Then  view  St.  David's  ruined  pile  ; 
And  home  returning,  soothly  swear, 
Was  never  scene  so  sad  and  fair !" 

— Lady  of  the  Lake. 

Xext  morning  Ave  went  up  to  Abbottsford,  called  the 
*  Eomance,"  Sir  Walter's  home,  built  on  the  grounds 
where  was  the  scene  of  the  last  feudal  conflict  of  the 
Borders;  near  by  is  Dry  burgh  Abbey,  the  Eildon  Hills, 
"  for  weirdly  deeds  renowned,"  Ettrick  Forest  and  the 
"  dowie  dens  o'  yarrow,"  and  only  half  a  mile  to 

"  Where  gallant  Cessford's  life-blood  dear 
Reeked  on  dark  Elliot's  border  spear." 

This  was  the  last  battle  of  Melrose,  the  last  great  clan 
battle  of  the  Borders,  fought  1526,  for  the  body  of 
James  V. 

Sir  Walter  greatly  enlarged  this  estate  and  planted  on 


329 

it  2,000  sweet  briers,  3,000  each  of  laburnums,  scotch 
elms  and  horse  chestnuts,  loads  of  hollies,  poplars, 
filberts  and  100,000  birches.  Mr.  Rokeley  called  it  a 
"  Caledonian  Eden."  It  is  situated  about  three  miles 
from  Melrose,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tweed.  It  is  a  fairy 
glen,  favorable  for  study,  with  the  mumuring  Tw^eed, 
impending  hills,  flowers,  ferns  and  forestry  to  inspire  his 
genius.     As  Rae-Brown  says : 

"  Scott,  witli  a  poet-painter's  skUl, 
Immortalized  lake,  tree  and  nill, 
Till  Scotia  seemed  the  brightest  gem 
That  shone  on  nature's  diadem." 

One  is  shown  his  armory,  a  fine  selection,  containing 
the  pair  of  pistols  carried  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte  at 
Waterloo,  with  many  other  valuable  relics ;  his  library 
of  20,000  volumes  and  many  fine  paintings ;  his  study^ 
with  his  desk,  book-holder  and  the  room  in  which  he- 
died,  containing  a  bronze  cast  taken  while  he  lay  in  state.. 
Other- things  than  arboriculture  also  occupied  the  acquis 
sitive  Laird  of  Abbotsf  ord.  Writing  to  his  sister-in-law 
(Mrs.  Thomas  Scott)  he  says :  "In  despite  of  these  hard: 
times,  which  affect  my  patrons,  the  booksellers,  verj 
much,  I  am  buying  old  books  and  old  armour  as  usual^ 
and  adding  to  what  your  old  friend  Burns  calls 

•'  A  fouth  of  auld  nick-nackets, 
Rusty  airn  caps  and  jingling  jackets, 
Wad  hand  the  Lothians  three  in  tackets 

A  townmont  guide ; 
And  parritch  pats  and  auld  saut  toackets: 

Afore  the  flude." 

We  spent  one  day — the  Queen's  birthday — in  the  learn- 
ed city  of  Edinburgh.  Queen  Street  is  thought  by 
many  to  be  the  finest  street  in  the  worlds  but  the  crowd 


SIR   WALTER   SCOTT  S   MONUMENT. 


331 

was  so  great  one  had  to  struggle  to  get^aloiig  instead  of 
leisurely  admiring  objects  of  beauty  aroundjiim. 

We  ascend  Gallon  Hill,  which  gives  an  extended  view, 
embracing  the  city  of  Leith,  Arthur's  seatQand  the  har- 
bor on  the  Firth  of  Forth.  An  iron  globe  passes  up  and 
falls  on  a  percussion  cap  discharged  by  electricity  from 
the  chronometer  at  Greenwich;  this  tires  a  cannon 
piecisely  at  12  o'clock,  M.,  every  day.  Here  also 
are  the  incomplete  National,  N"elson  and  Stewart 
monuments.  Below  the  hill  on  the  way  to  Holyrood  is 
the  monument  to  Robert  Burns,  at  the  unveiling  of 
which  his  mother  said :  "  He  asked  for  bread,  but  they 
gie  him  a  stein,"  meaning  the  stone  material^of  which  it 
was  composed. 

The  Gastle  which  covers  7  acres,  and  has  endured 
many  sieges,  where  James  I.  of  England  or  VI.  of  Scot- 
laud  was  born,  containing  the  ancient  regalia  of  Scotland 
consisting  of  a  crown,  sceptre,  sword  of  State,  and  the 
Lord  Treasurer's  rod  of  oflBce,  the  room  of  Mary,  Queen 
of  Scots,  Queen  Margaret's  Ghapel,  the  smallest  church  in 
the  world,  perhaps,  Mons.  Meg,  a  historic  cannon  of  1497, 
with  the  Highlanders  crowned  with  helmets  plumed 
with  Ostrich  feathers  worth  $25,  and  tartan  frocks  that 
reach  only  to  the  knee,  the  rest  of  the  leg  and  foot  being 
bare,  and  the  Scott  monument  below  costing  $2,04)0,000, 
with  its  churches  and  schools,  all  would  tempt  one  to 
linger  in  this  classic  town,  but  only  one  more  day  remains 
for  Glasgow  and  the  country  between  ere  the  S.  S.  State 
of  Nebraska  will  sail  for  New  York  and  bear  me  to  my 
native  land. 

Glasgow  claims  to  be  the  third  city  of  Great  Britain, 
and  is  indebted  for  her  prosperity  to  her  facility  for 
uniting  commerce  and  manufactures.     Four  things  con- 


332 

Sumed  my  time  for  one  day  ;  the  Cathedral,  which  has 
one  of  the  finest  crypts  in  existence,  with  33  columns 
and  20  pilasters  supporting  the  ceiling,  and  stained  glass 
windows  from  Munich ;  the  Necropolis,  just  over  the 
"  Bridge  of  Sighs,"  that  holds,  with  many  others,  the 
ashes  of  John  Knox.  On  a  single  Doric  column 
rising  above  his  remains  we  read  that  the  regent  said  at 
his  funeral  :  "  Here  lieth  he  who  never  feared  the  face 
of  man."  Many  events  connected  with  the  reformation 
in  Scotland  are  inscribed  on  the  monument  and  a  fine 
statute  of  Knox  surmounts  the  shaft.  We  spent  a  few 
hours  in  the  Hunterian  Museum  of  the  University,  which 
has  a  fine  natural  history  collection ;  and  the  shipyards 
on  the  Clyde,  where  are  made  the  great  ocean-going 
steamers ;  fully  one  hundred,  of  various  sizes,  were  in 
course  of  construction,  made  throughout  of  iron.  They 
are  built  on  an  inclined  plane,  on  a  line  cutting  the  shore 
diagonally,  and  are  launched  stern  foremost. 

We  went  through  a  large  factory  which  employs  sev- 
eral hundred  blind  people,  who  were  Aveaving,  making 
brooms,  brushes,  sieves  and  many  other  useful  articles, 
all  executed  with  surprising  precision  and  dispatch. 

Many  emigrants  sail  from  Glasgow  to  America.  About 
200  were  on  the  State  of  Nebraska.  Fully  2,500  people 
w^ere  oif  the  wharf  to  see  her  sail  and  bid  friends  adieu  ; 
some  wept,  some  laughed,  while  others  cheered. 

There  is  a  solemnity  about  the  sailing  of  a  steam-ship 
laden  with  passengers  bound  for  some  foreign  land. 
AVhat  fate  awaits  them,  who  can  tell  ?  Many  have  gone 
with  as  gleeful  spirits  as  they,  never  to  be  heard  of 
again. 

Slowly  we  moved  down  the   Clyde  by  the  great  ship- 


333 

yards.  By  and  by  we  passed  Greenock,  birthplace  of 
James  Watt,  and  Avliere  Burns'  Highland  Mary  is  buried; 
on  the  opposite  side,  almost  in  sight,  is  the  Whistler's 
Glen,  where  Donacha  Dhu  and  the  poor  boy  of  Effie 
Deans  rendezvoused  as  Scott  relates  in  "  Heart  of  Midlo- 
thian." Soon  we  run  into  Gourock  bay  "  where  the  yacht 
clubs  fit  out  their  crack  cutters,  yawls  and  schooners  for 
the  summer  races."  It  is  said  to  be  a  lucky  bay  to  sail 
from,  especially  if  ballast  be  taken  from  Granny  Kem- 
poch,  a  rock  on  the  cliff  at  Kempoch  Point.  Across 
from  Gourock  bay  Loch  Long  branches  off,  on  au  arm  of 
which  (Loch  Goil)  Lord  Ullin  vainly  called  to  his  elo- 
ping child  and  her  Highland  chief 

"  '  Come  back !  come  back !"  lie  cried  in  grief, 
'  Across  tliis  stormy  water ; 
And  I'll  forgive  your  Higniand  cnief , 
My  daughter,  oh,  my  daughter !" 

'Twas  vain ;  the  loud  waves  lash'd  the  shore, 

Return,  or  aid  preventing ; 

The  waters  wild  went  o'er  his  child, 

And  he  was  left  lamenting." 

"  Holy  Loch  is  separated  from  L.  Long  by  Strone  Point 
projecting  into  the  Clyde,  here  the  scenery  is  Alpine, 
with  precipice,  crag,  pyramidal  hills,  contrasted  with 
others  whose  smooth,  verdant  sides  swell  into  aerial 
heights.  Particularly  fine  is  Argyll's  Bowling  Green.  It 
is  a  matchless  amphitheater  with  downy  fronts  and  lofty 
summits."  Across  the  Firth  to  the  left  rise  the  Renfrew- 
shire and  Ayershire  hills,  land  of  Burns.  Rothsay,  a 
favorite  watering  place,  was  passed ;  here  stands  a  castle 
dating  back  to  1098,  where  Robert  II.  resided  for  a  time 
and  where  he  died.  It  contains  a  stair  known  as  the 
"  Bluidy  Stair  "  where  tradition  says  a  deed  of  horror  oc- 
curred. 


334 

The  morning  woke  on  the  Ladye's  bower, 

But  no  Isabel  was  there ; 
The  morning  woke  on  Rothesay  tower, 

And  bluid  was  on  the  stair. 


And  aft  in  the  mirk  and  midnight  hour, 

WTien  a'  is  silent  there, 
A  shriek  is  heard  and  a  Ladye  is  seen 

On  the  steps  o'  the  Bluidy  Stair." 

The  Firth  of  Clyde  widens  out  and  the  shades  of  night 
shut  out  from  our  vision  the  enchanted  land  of  Scott 
and  Burns,  of  Wallace  and  Bruce,  of  McLeod  and  Knox. 

We  awoke  to  look  upon  Erin's  emerald  isle.  Our  ship 
spent  a  day  at  Larne,  completing-  her  cargo,  affording 
passengers  opportunity  to  run  up  to  Belfast  and  spend  a 
few  hours. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  our  vessel  was  loosed  from  her 
mooring  and  steamed  northwards  through  the  north 
channel  skirting  the  j^icturesque  coast  of  Ireland  home- 
ward bound. 

One  of  the  pleasant  features  of  a  sea-voyage  is  the 
number  of  nice  people  one  meets.  I  was  very  fortunate 
on  this  trip.  There  were  five  ministers  aboard,  two  of 
whom  were  Methodists,  three  Avere  Presbyterians.  We 
were  eleven  days  crossing,  including  two  Sundays.  On 
one  of  these  Mr.  Langiey,  of  Canada,  preached,  and  I  on 
the  second.  During  the  day  there  was  music  and  many 
kinds  of  games  for  those  fond  of  amusement,  and  a  good 
library  for  those  who  wish  to  read,  while  others  write 
letters,  still  others  look  for  whales  and  icebergs.  We 
had  two  concerts  and  charades  at  night.  It  fell  to  my 
lot  in  one  of  these  to  feebly  portray  the  desirable  quali- 
ties and  inexhaustible  resources  of  our  own  Southland, 
and.  urge  on  all  those  seeking  homes  in  the  new  world 
the  benefits  of  locating  amongst  us. 


335 

I  greatly  enjoyed  the  association  of  Dr.  Hobbs,  a  yonng 
alnmnus  of  Johns  Hopkins,  who  had  been  to  Germany 
to  study  there.  He  belongs  to  the  U.  8.  Coast  Survey 
and  is  the  author  of  a  learned  treatise  on  the  "  Rocks  oc- 
curring in  the  neighborhood  of  Ilchester,  Maryland." 
.1  enjoyed  no  less  the  acquaintance  of  the  Rev.  B.  Lang- 
ley  and  wife  and  the  Rev.  Jas.  Lanman  and  wife  Avhom  I 
first  met  on  the  Luther  Platz  in  Worms. 

On  the  morning  of  June  5th  we  passed  Sandy  Hook, 
the  Statue  of  Liberty,  and  soon  stood  on  American  soil. 

My  heart  thanked  that  faithful  Friend  under  whose 
protecting  hand  our  ship  had  reached  this  shore  in  safety 
and  whose  defenses  had  been  about  me  since  January.  I 
had  travelled  so  many  thousands  of  miles  without  acci- 
dent, sickness,  loss  of  any  kind,  (except  a  package  sent 
home),  or  even  missing  a  single  connection  by  rail  or 
steamer,  or  receiving  a  line  of  news  from  home  to  rob  my 
journey  of  enjoyment. 

"  'Tis  sweet  to  hear  the  watch-dog's  honest  hark, 
Bay  deep-mouthed  welcome  as  we  draw  near  home ; 
'Tis  sweet  to  know  there  is  an  eye  will  mark 
Our  coming,  and  look  brighter  when  we  come," 

FINIS. 


